The REAL TRUTH about "the truth"
Life and Ministry of William Irvine

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CHAPTERS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Chapter Index

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Chapter 18
Revised Aug. 3, 2008

 The Black Stocking Era
PHOTO GALLERY - View Black Stockings

The Black Stocking Rebellion
Why Did They Wear Black Stockings?
The Black Stocking Church
The Invention Of Nylon
Differences of Administration
“The Change”
“Plague Of Blackness” Finally Lifts
Will History Repeat Itself Soon??
George Walker & Jack Carroll on Black Stockings

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Chapter 18
The Black Stocking Rebellion
This Chapter is dedicated to my dear Mother…Dot Berry

Those who were born after 1950 have little or no idea of the pain, embarrassment and humiliation forced upon the females by the male leaders of “the truth” for about 50 years.  That is, unless your mother endured the Black Stocking Regime…and mine was one of the unfortunate ones who did.  Much of what follows is taken first hand from her memories and experiences. I could not have written this without her help.  My Mother wrote:

“It’s interesting that the men in charge of the rules that women are required to follow look just like any other men walking down the street—but they enforce rules where women have to look different—to wear uniforms that advertise that they are saints; as though they cannot be known by their spirit alone.”

In the late 19th century, Black Stockings were commonly worn by women everywhere under their long dresses.  Since dress hemlines went all the way to the ground, no part of the woman’s leg or stocking was seen.  A book about costumes stated:   “Black stockings became almost universal for daytime wear in the 1890’s.” Speaking of typical day-time leg wear in the years 1890 to 1900:  “Black was usual, often of lisle thread."   (From: Victorian Costume by Anne Buck ISBN 0-89676-220-3)  “Lisle” was a type of cotton.

This being the style, when “the truth” was just getting started, the first sister workers and friends wore the style of that day in their choice of stockings and hemlines.  They wore Black Stockings and dresses or skirts that went down to the floor. [View photos of women wearing same.]  Note that the choice of professing women in their stockings and hem lengths did not set them apart from the worldly ladies.  They were not peculiar in this area—although they dressed plainly.  This was slated to change drastically!

The fiber content in hosiery up to this time was all natural fibers:  cotton, wool or silk. Cotton and wool were warm, and plentiful, but the finished products were bulky and unflattering in shape.  In 1900, about 88 percent of women's stockings manufactured were cotton, about 11 percent were wool, and about 1 percent were silk.  Silk was sheer, but very expensive and extremely delicate.  All three fibers were rigid, and had no stretch or give to them.  Nylon had not yet been invented.  (From:  Encyclopædia Britannica and History of Hosiery by Milton N. Grass, pub 1956 by Fairchild Pub LIB 55-11807).

The Encyclopædia Britannica  states under the heading Dress – The early 20th Century: There were no fundamental changes in dress during the first decade of the 20th century.  This would mean that the styles of the world didn’t change up to 1910; and the styles adopted by professing women did not change either.  They all continued to wear their black cotton stockings and long dresses.

In the early 1900’s, when the first sister workers came to America from the British Isles, they wore the current style for women’s clothing, hemlines to the ground, with no leg showing, and black stockings.  Color was not an issue since their stockings were hidden by their long dresses.  Up to the 1920’s, few other colors of stockings were manufactured, except for the traditional black.   (Handbook of English Costume in the 19th Century by C. Willett Cunnington & Phillis Cunnington; ISBN 0-8238-0080-6, Pub. by Plays Inc, 1970)  Since this was what the sister workers wore, their converts did likewise, if they weren’t already doing so.  It was the customary dress both inside the fold and outside.  However, Black Stockings were destined to become an integral part of the professing women’s uniform.  The professing women would eventually become known by their black legs!

During the years of World War I, the hemlines began to rise, and women started showing a little leg.  Then, according to the  Encyclopædia Britannica: Women were beginning to question their status in a man's world. Some became suffragettes, some went to work outside the home. A more practical form of dress became popular, with the blouse and skirt replacing the ruffled tea gown. During the war years of 1914-18 these changes accelerated.  A minority of women were in uniform, but far more worked in factories, in offices, as postal carriers and in other jobs previously performed by men. To meet their needs, the picture hat was replaced by a small neat design, and the skirt hemline rose to eight inches above the ground, revealing the ankles for the first time…With the short skirts, flesh-coloured stockings were  introduced, made from expensive silk or more practical lisle or wool (other colours were also worn).

With the raising of the hem some 8 inches above the ankle, the legs and stockings naturally became visible. When the women’s hemline length changed, the fashion in stockings changed right along with it. But the professing women didn’t begin to wear the other stocking colors…they continued right on wearing what they wore when the group first started…Black Stockings.

“In 1910, the hemline rose from the end of the teens to reach the knee in 1925, and remained hovering near that position until the stock market crash of 1929, when they too fell to mid-calf and lower…In 1920, this decade is notorious for its scandalous changes in fashion…bobbed hair…showing your knees…women smoking in public! “ (from La Belle Epoque - Women's Fashions of the 1900’s)

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica:  …The postwar 1920’s brought a complete change to the fashion scene…The skirt hemline rose steadily to become, at its shortest in the years 1925-27, knee-length.  And the professing women kept right on wearing their Black tockings.  Even when flesh-colored hosiery became the norm in leg wear for women everywhere, the professing women and young girls had to wear their Black Stockings.  Then the manufacturers stopped making them altogether.  In time, when the existing supply ran out, it became very difficult to find and buy black stockings.  So some bought hosiery in other colors and dyed them black.

Sometimes my Mom could not buy black stockings so she would buy packets of black dye and heat the water and put the white or tan stockings in the hot water and put the black dye powder into the water.  I would have to stir that.  Then she would take a wooden stick and lift some stockings out to see if they were black enough. (Memories of Thomas V. Schroeder)

In the lifetime of one pair of hose, because of fading with washing, they could be dyed several times before they were worn out.  In the summer time, feet sweat, causing women’s feet to be black from the dye that faded.  Why were black stockings so entrenched in the women’s wardrobe that they went to all this trouble?  Why didn’t they give them up?  My Mother wrote:

The first sister workers we ever met wore them. Women who professed were expected to wear them and when they did, it seemed they were in a different class from those who didn't. Those (few) who didn't wear them were considered to be ‘without understanding.’  As a young teenager, I thought that this was required toward salvation.

Wearing black stockings was not made a Condition of Fellowship.   George Walker, Overseer of the Eastern United States, said he did not believe it was profitable to the women or the Lord’s work to use pressure on women to make them go beyond what was in their heart, or to do what they were not convinced in their minds they should do.  However, George Walker said he favored black as a color for stockings because it was farthest from the flesh color that he believed was unbecoming to women professing godliness.  (from:  Letter by George Walker reprinted at end of this chapter)

My most vivid childhood memory is of the women having to wear black stockings. There was always a lot of controversy about them, as well as a lot of rebellion, and many a good Christian girl fell by the wayside because she refused to go out in public wearing her uniform. Black stockings, you see, were only one part of this stringent category, and long skirts, long hair, and long faces - the longer the better - were other prescribed signs of holiness and submission to the will of God.  (In Vain They do Worship, by Willis Young, pp. 36-37)

Reportedly two sister workers were told they had to don black stockings or they would not be allowed to speak at Grayling, Michigan Convention . One of them chose to wear the black stockings; and the other didn't  The two workers, Mable Tenniswood and Ellen McGovern, had been laboring in South America, and did not wear black stockings there--and quite possibly didn't wear ANY stockings.  I discovered that Mable didn't wear a brassiere either when I was a young girl and spent the night with the sister workers in their quarters at convention preparations, and I found this quite shocking.  Mable is from Michigan, sister to Eldon and Lillian, also workers.

On the other hand, Jack Carroll discouraged women from "wearing stockings so closely like having no stockings on at all:"

"We gave you four words last year to guide you in connection with your purchases during the year--economy, simplicity, modesty, and neatness. What the scripture teaches about the dress question is covered by these four words, and we will have no complaint if the daughters of Zion give evidence that in all their purchases during the year they do it as unto the Lord, remembering that if they are to have a testimony of value, it will be well for them to be guided by these four words. We don't want to make rules or laws for God's children that would bring them into unnecessary bondage. We believe we can safely trust our sisters in Christ in this matter, which is such a serious matter, as far as they are concerned, if they will be guided by these four words. If they do this, it will result in their having a testimony for God that will be of value.

"We would like our sisters here to look upon the sister workers as a safe guide in this matter. There is no need for an absolute uniformity. We know this is a very serious question, and we believe that in some cases at least there could be a little improvement in this matter. We don't like to see any wearing stockings so closely like having no stockings on at all, and we feel perfectly sure that when you buy your next pair if you remember these four words, especially the word modesty, you will be more careful not only with regard to material but also with regard to color."  (no date or name of where spoken)

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Why Did They Wear Black Stockings?

There were various explanations given for why the women had to wear black stockings.  Modesty was the main one. However, as the styles changed, the black stockings actually DREW attention to the women’s legs.  Most 2x2 women wore them (1) to please the workers, and (2) because they thought it was something they HAD to do to be saved.  But that didn’t stop them from hating them!  Oh, how they despised those Black Stockings!  Women who were willing to wear Black Stockings were considered to have made a great step forward in spiritual maturity. It was viewed as a sign of being whole-hearted and submissive.  While wearing Black Stockings was not a Condition of Fellowship, still, to be fully accepted by one’s professing peers, and to win the smiling approval of the sister workers and others in authority, a professing woman had to wear Black Stockings.  There was no other way! (in George Walker’s territory, that is!)

To wear Black Stockings was to suffer for the kingdom's sake.  It was the ultimate in self-denial.  It was to stifle one’s pride because Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall  (Proverbs 16:18).  In wearing Black Stockings, the women believed they were pleasing God—even though most DETESTED wearing Black Stockings to please Him.  They took comfort in the fact they would be saved—and that they would be rewarded for their pain and suffering.  Eventually, it would all be worth it.

Young girls were forced to wear the apparel of old ladies, without understanding why they were doing so.  The over-rated importance of black stockings inspired fear in children:

"As a child of about 10 around 1940, my aunt remembers geting up in the middle of the night to put on her stockings to wear them in bed - she was afraid that if she died in the middle of the night she'd go to hell."  (Robert Kee)

Even the babies and children didn’t  escape the Plague of the Black Stockings:

Looking at old pictures and hearing family stories, I was aware that babies wore stockings in meetings, lest they kick up their little legs and expose skin. As a toddler I wore black stockings at home. These were held up by something called a ‘harness’,   which was made of strips of elastic and was adjusted to one's size by means of various buckles and sliders. Suspenders went over the shoulders, and long garters, one in front and one in back for each leg, gripped the tops of the stockings. Before I went to school, black stockings were no longer worn in my family. But I do remember my mother dyeing tan hose black, in a big dye kettle on the stove, when I was very little. I remember that it became very difficult to find long stockings in children's sizes. We had to send away to Sears and Roebuck or Montgomery Ward or Chicago Mail (Aldens) for them. (Memories of Martha Nelson Knight)

While the young worldly girls wore white socks, my Mother and her sisters (ages 6, 10 and 14), had to wear thick, ugly, brown cotton stockings they were ashamed of to cover their flesh. Some time after they professed, the young women MOST reluctantly donned Black Stockings. This was the custom of most professing women and some children in the Eastern United States which was under the overseer, George Walker.  This MAY have also been the custom in some other countries—but the author has no knowledge of same, if it was so.  Information is welcome.  E-mail Author at truth@earthlink.net

As a teenager, my Mother very much wanted to please God, and to go to Heaven and was willing to do anything to attain salvation.  Getting to heaven and Black Stockings were a package deal. Young girls were trapped in the outward garments of an old woman.  My Mother professed a few months before her 15th birthday, knowing this meant that she would soon have to conform to the outward standards, don Black Stockings, and suffer for His sake.  She wrote:

I can't begin to explain how much I dreaded changing over to those hideous Black Stockings. I believed it was a necessary step I had to take in order to be accepted by God.  I viewed the day I would 'put away childish things' and put on black stockings as the day that would mark the beginning of a process of salvation in my life.  I wanted, above all else, to please God and receive eternal life, in spite of having to wear the detested black stockings. I waited until AFTER I graduated from high school when I was 17, to don the color Black.  It was a VERY Black Day in 1941 for me.

Hemlines had eased up to the knees in the 1920’s, and a lot of a woman’s leg was now showing in the 1930’s.  Imagine a young woman in her late teens or early twenties wearing a pastel color, light-weight cotton, summer dress that barely covered her knees—with DARK BLACK STOCKINGS!!   There is a photo of my Mother in her photo album fitting this very description, but she has such terribly painful memories of that period in her life that she won’t let me publish it here.  My Mother wrote:

You cannot imagine the remarks, the rejection, the questions, the slights, snubs, etc. we endured from "those of the world" due to our wearing black stockings.  Most young girls enjoy going shopping--not me or my sisters!  We HATED it.  Shopping took a lot of courage because we were often questioned and usually were gawked at as though we were some sort of freaks.  Some people actually turned around to stare at us; whispered  behind their hands; snickered as we passed on the street.  Store clerks would sometimes wait on others before us, when we had been there first. We were often ignored and prejudiced against in the same way some ethnic groups were; considered sub-standard human beings--beneath others.  At various times, I was so overcome with embarrassment that I wished the floor would open up and swallow me.

In time, the women became so ostentatious that they became known by their Black Stockings, much like the Amish and Mennonites are known by their peculiar outward garb. They were the 2x2 Nuns, going about advertising their church by their apparel.  This can be seen by the following comments:

I remember the testimony of a young attractive professing woman at convention one year. She said someone had told her she looked as though she belonged in a circus.  She went on to say that if that person could be at that convention, she would probably say, ‘Here's the rest of the circus.’  Many laughed, but I didn’t. I sat there furious with a poker face. (My Mother)

…so when we went into the house, my aunt Esther said to my Mom, ‘Oh Lucy, you are still wearing those black stockings.  You know every time I see the black crows flying in the backyard I am always reminded of you still walking around in those black stockings.’ (From Tom Schroeder’s Memories of Black Stockings)

My Grandmother was one of those who was buried in her black stockings. This was in the early 70's. I also remember a conversation where one of my Aunts talked about when there were lots of professing people in their hometown.  When you would drive through downtown, there would be all these professing women wearing their black stockings, waiting to cross the street.  She said they looked like crows, and she professes!  Guess she was glad the 'change' happened!

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The Black Stocking Church

The professing women weren’t known by their spirit, but rather by the color of their stockings!  This outstanding peculiarity caused them to even be called The Black Socks and Black Stocking Church!

Because as members of The Truth Church we had to wear black stockings, we became known as the 'Black Socks'. We were the Two-by-Twos and the Black Socks of Boscobel.” (From:  Bigots of Boscobel by Everett C. Oman, 1992,  p.59)

From the FBI Investigation of The Black Stockings:  Both of these individuals advised that the church advocates strict abstinence and wearing of modest clothing, that due to this latter principle they are many times referred to as members of the 'Black Stocking' Church, but in reality the principle is merely to wear modest clothing and does not necessarily specify the wearing of black stockings. (Report of Kansas City Division File No. 100-6693  dated April 23, 1943)

My Mother wrote:

We were seldom asked what church we went to.  However, we were asked about our manner of dress and long hair. Some people thought we wore uniforms.  In reality, I suppose we did.  Our faith couldn't be identified by a name, but we sure were identified by what we wore.  When we were wearing Black Stocking, we supposedly had on Holy Apparel. ‘Approved of God, what could we more desire?’  We were advertising our righteousness, but no one could see it for the black stockings, so no one recognized it.

We shied away from strangers; afraid to be friendly.  Afraid they would ask us why we wore black stockings.  And we had no good answer.  I avoided questions because I didn't know the answers.  I would just flippantly answer with a question. For example, ‘Why do you wear the color stockings you have on?’

My Mom washed clothes by hand and hung them on the line to dry. You should have seen the black stockings blowing in the wind!  Mom said everybody that goes past our place can see what kind of people are living here by looking at our laundry hanging on the clothes line.  And Mom was so right!   Because one day, the teacher called me up to her desk and asked me the name of our religion.  I told her that it didn’t have a name, but the other kids in the classroom called out to the teacher, ‘It’s the Black Stocking Religion.’ (Tom Schroeder)

The Black Stockings generated many questions. There were other religious women who also wore Black Stockings, but even so, the 2x2s thought that they would not make it to heaven:

I remember that once I asked if the Amish who wore black stockings were ‘saved,’ and I was told that they were not, because ‘they don't meet in the home and they have not been saved through the Lord's true messengers’ In addition, they did not have workers who were ‘homeless’ or who ‘went forth two by two.’ The same was true of the Mennonites of our acquaintance. Although the women and girls had long hair and dressed very modestly, and the families' lifestyle was blameless, they too ‘were not in fellowship with God's True People’ or were not ‘in the Lord's Way.’ (Memories of Martha Nelson Knight)

Some women were certain that the reason they did not get hired for certain positions they interviewed for was directly due to their wearing Black Stockings.  My husband’s Mother was hired by General Motors in 1942 when she was 18.  When she reported for work, speaking of her Black Stockings, her immediate supervisor told her, You cannot wear those things in this place.  She began wearing tan hose to work and also to meeting; no one said anything to her about it. Another lady took matters into her own hands to insure her success when she was selling her home product door-to-door:

We loaded up the trunk with a lot of jars and cans of maple syrup, so we could go into the suburbs and go door-to-door selling maple syrup. As I was driving, I looked over at my Mom and noticed that she was taking off her black stockings, and then she reached into her big black purse and pulled out a pair of light tan stockings and put them on.  Mom said, I will tell you why I'm doing this.  I will be walking up one side of the street and you will be on the other side, each with our large canvas shopping bag carrying syrup for sale.  How would I look, with a black hat on my head to cover up my bun, my dark blue dress and black stockings from my knees down to my big black shoes?  They will think it's the bag lady coming up to their door, and they're not going to answer the door bell--they might even call the police because this is a wealthy neighborhood.  Now with these tan stockings on at least I look halfway presentable.

As I was driving back to my aunt’s house that evening, Mom started taking off the tan stockings in the car and she said, ‘I don't dare let my sister see me in these tan stockings, so I have to put these black ones on again. Now don't drive so fast, as we are almost there.’ She was having trouble getting the first stocking on right.  By this time we were getting near to my aunt's house, and Mom said, ‘Stop right here and give me time to put the other black one back on.’  I said, ‘Mom you can stay in the car and change that one right out there in front of her house.’  ‘No,’ Mom said, ‘She could be  out in the front yard and come right over to the car and open the door to help me out, and there I’d be standing with one black stocking on and one tan stocking on, and I would never hear the end of that from her.’  So I stopped where we were, and she put the other black one on.   (Memories of Black Stockings by Tom Schroeder)

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The Invention of Nylon

Meanwhile, a new yarn called nylon was about to revolutionize the hosiery industry. In 1937, the patent was filed for nylon by DuPont Laboratories.  This tough, durable, flexible fiber could be drawn into filaments, and stretched to form very strong but sheer fibers.  Finally, in one element there was available the sheerness of silk with strength surpassing even cotton or wool!  You can imagine the impact on the hosiery industry!  A display of women’s nylons at the 1939 New York World’s Fair created a sensation.  The first recorded sale in New York City stores was on May 15, 1940.  Soon after World War II, women's stockings made of nylon supplanted all other types.

When the United States entered World War II, nylon production was interrupted and women grudgingly had to go back to natural fibers.  Nylon all but disappeared commercially, going totally into war production for parachutes, belts, web gear and other pieces of equipment…  Teenage girls unable to find nylons on the black market painted black seams down the back of their legs just to impress their boyfriends.  And what American GI doesn’t remember the bargaining power of a chocolate bar and a pair of nylons?

After the war, the large pent up consumer demand literally exploded on the retail market as soon as goods were available.  What has been described as a mob of 10,000 shoppers descended on Market Street in San Francisco for the first post war sale of nylons in 1945.  A department store window was shattered and several women fainted and the sale had to be canceled.  Never again would the hosiery industry be the same.  (From Article titled:  The History of Hosiery by Sid Smith, President & Chief Executive Officer of The Hosiery Association)

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Differences of Administration

In certain areas in the USA and Canada, there was no requirement for professing women to wear Black Stockings.

The ‘black stocking rule’ was not a universal one. For those living west of the Mississippi or, farther north, somewhere between Sault Ste. Marie and Winnipeg, it had either never existed at all or had been so successfully resisted that it had disappeared. This regional disparity added considerable fire to the contention and controversy of the issue, and it's hard to know how influential it would have been in splitting the church apart if it had not finally been addressed publicly by George Walker, one of the senior workers at a convention held at Almonte, Ontario in 1945 or 1946. Even though I was young at the time, I can still recall so vividly the outpourings of relief from those who were so desperate for the change and the equal protestations from women like my grandmothers who saw it as the end of the faith as they knew it, and who kept that faith until the day they died.  (In Vain They do Worship, by Willis Young, pp. 36-37)

On the Western side of the United States and Canada, Jack Carroll was the overseer there, and he had two sisters in the work under him in California, May and Frances (affectionately called Fannie) Carroll.  According to one report, the professing women of Western America and Western Canada have May Carroll to thank for lifting the grievous, unnecessary, unscriptural burden of black stockings, which the unfortunate professing women in the Eastern States and Canada had to bear until it became unbearable.  A footnote to G. Pattison’s Account speaking of the Carroll family stated:

Those to go into the work were William (Bill) (1903), May (1903), Jack (John T.) (1904), Francis (Fannie) Carroll (1905). Jack Carroll went to the U.S. in 1906, and for 50 years was the Head Overseer of the area West of the Rocky Mountains, until his death in 1957, at age 78.  William (Bill) Carroll and wife went to Victoria in 1913, where he was an elder until his death in 1963, according to the 1951 Hymn Authors. May Carroll was a worker with the Faith Mission, and left to become one of William Irvine's workers. She preached in the U.S. most of her life and died in California in 1961, at age 82. By not wearing black stockings, May effectively brought this practice to an end. Fanny Carroll went to New Zealand in 1905 with the first group, preached a couple of years in Tasmania, and preached many years in California, where she died in 1980, at the age of 96.  (From:  Goodhand Pattison’s, Account, Footnote 9)

The year and details of how May Carroll "effectively brought this practice to an end" on the West Coast are not known to the author. However, the Author has a photo of May Carroll dated 1931 in which she is NOT wearing Black Stockings, while another woman in the photo is wearing them. A possible scenario is not hard to imagine.  At that time, most of the worldly women were beginning to wear flesh-colored and gun-metal gray hose.  Black stockings were getting harder and harder for the professing women to find and buy.  So the professing women could have asked the workers if it would be all right for them to change and wear other more available colors of hosiery.  Had the workers been reluctant to give them the OK to change colors, then the disgruntled, hard-pressed women would likely begin to press for the Biblical support for why they had to wear black hosiery. It was OK for the real flesh of hands and faces to be seen but legs covered up with thick flesh-colored hosiery was taboo?  Truly, this did not add up!  Didn’t God make all the colors?  Wasn’t Jesus’ coat fashionable enough that the soldiers drew lots for it?  Why did they have to dress so peculiarly as to draw unfavorable attention to themselves and ridicule??  How was this well pleasing to the Lord?

So imagine one or both of his two sisters getting sick and tired of the black stocking question continuing to come up, over and over again.  And they had no good answers.  To enforce it, they had to resort to intimidation, shame tactics and attacks on the character of the questioner.  So the sisters go to their brother Jack, and announce to him that they could not find black cotton stockings to buy, did not see any sense in wearing them, and were sick and tired of all these tiresome questions the women were asking them.  Furthermore, they told Jack that they were not going to wear black stockings anymore.  Bear in mind, these particular two women, May & Fannie Carroll were THE TOP example Ladies to ALL the Western States and Canada sister workers and saints too!   What could Jack do?  Did he really have a choice?  Was he going to excommunicate his sisters?   If he had been reluctant, which we do not know for certain that he was, he could easily have been coerced by his sisters into going along with the change.  The other sister workers and saints would have followed suit, and stopped wearing black stockings.  Of course, this is just speculation.  Perhaps some reader knows the real story.  If so, please E-mail the Author.

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“The Change”

What or who brought down the Black Stocking Curse??   According to my Mother, World War II was fought to put an end to the Black Stocking Era in the Eastern USA.  A number of things contributed to its downfall.  One incident that helped bring the issue to a head was a trip made to Ireland by three Canadian sister workers for convention.  Certainly, the war played no small part in delivering the professing women who lived under the Black Sock Plague.  And of course, the youth eventually rebelled, as might be expected.

During World War II, professing service men from other areas in North America were stationed in areas where the women wore Black Stockings. Many of the wives of the service men attended conventions in the East and didn't wear Black Stockings, especially those from out West.  Most of them wore flesh-colored hose and stood out to the local professing women, who judged and envied them, and were also confused at such matters of diversity in the matter of modesty.  Wasn't there supposed to be unity in the truth?

Naturally, this caused talk, unrest, questions and major discontent to set in with those who did have to wear them.  So gradually, the younger women just stopped wearing their hated Black Stockings. Of course, those who did were considered rebellious at first.  Can you imagine how it would feel going to Sunday morning meeting for the first time without wearing your usual Black Stockings?  My Mother’s bold younger sister was the first to change in their home state!  It would be the same feeling today if some young girls wore slacks and cut their hair, applied make-up and went to Sunday meeting for the first time. Little by little, most of the younger generation changed, and then the mothers of some of these daughters followed suit. However, some older women hung onto their black stockings for years, and some wore them to their graves and in their caskets.  As late as 1990, some 8-10 professing women were seen wearing black stockings at McCordsville, Indiana convention.

In this period of time, some of us had been changing to not-black stockings. The elder of the meeting and his wife and daughter still "held with" black stockings. A few of the older people in the meeting still did, but in most families females were wearing brown, grey, gunmetal, a salt-and-pepper tweedy knit, or an orangey tan. Later tan became the color most seemed to prefer. None of these stockings were sheer. Lots were cotton, which got fuzzy and baggy with wear; some were cotton lisle, a longer-staple and lighter-weight cotton, which looked  more genteel; and some were rayon, which was rather heavy and shiny.  (Memories of Martha Nelson Knight)

Reportedly, around 1950, three sister workers from America were sent to Ireland, as visiting workers, to preach in the conventions there.  Before convention started, they noticed they were the only ones wearing black stockings; and that all the women friends and sister workers were wearing tan-colored stockings.  So naturally a discussion ensued between the Tan-Stocking Workers and the visiting Black-Stocking Workers about their stockings.  Both groups naturally felt they were on the right side, regarding this issue.  The Black-Stocking workers said that women wearing tan stockings back in America were in danger of going to a lost eternity.  The Tan-Stocking Workers wondered how it would look and what would the convention crowd think when they saw these American sister workers standing on the platform preaching in their black stockings?  The American women workers wondered what their American Overseer would say and what the American friends and workers would think and say if they went back home wearing tan stockings?  Or if they found out that the sister workers overseas in the Old Country did not wear Black Stockings anymore.

Finally, the Irish head worker was summoned to straighten out the matter.  He came and listened to their arguments and said this was a very difficult issue and not an easy problem to settle, and did not have an answer for them right then.  He promised to pray about the women's black stocking problem and give them his answer the next morning. The next morning the old Irish head worker told the American sister workers they would get them some tan-colored stockings to wear, and that they could remove their black stockings, and didn’t need to wear the black stockings anymore.

On the other hand, another story is that the "black stocking tradition" changed when some visiting American sister workers dared to wear neutral colored stockings at an Ireland Convention.

How did George Walker handle the black stocking issue when the three sister workers came back from Ireland wearing tan stockings?  Reportedly, he called a workers’ meeting in Canada, and in that meeting, George agreed with the other workers to make The Change.  HOWEVER, afterwards, he never implemented The Change, or spread the word to other head workers under him in his territory, that it would be all right for the women to change over.  It would appear, that he may have had second thoughts, may have resisted The Change, and he may have even reneged on his agreement.  My Mother wrote:

I remember most of the churches in our part getting a copy of a letter from George Walker concerning ’The Change’.  I had one in my possession for years.  He mentioned that while some were changing to other colors, he still preferred the black.

HOWEVER, by 1945-50, the professing women had seen and had enough, and they took matters into their own hands, and spread the word to one another that they didn't have to wear the black stockings anymore--the news went faster than lightning!  NO ANNOUNCEMENT was made by the workers.  It seems the workers didn't really have a say about it. It was out of their hands.  It was known as THE CHANGE, and somehow all the women knew what was meant by the term, The Change.

After the war was over, my Mother went to a neighboring state to work, and boarded with a professing family with three daughters. Two had already made the change, and so had a few others with whom she met for meeting.  She liked their example, and wanted to fit in.  After a few months her sister, who was the first to change in their state, joined her and they got an apartment together. By that time, she had no qualms about changing over, for she knew then that there would be no ex-communication.  What with all the other girls changing, there would have been a mass loss of female youth—and they were supposed to be the hope of the future.  My Mother wrote:

Eventually my mother changed over also--I don't remember how long it was after we girls did.  My oldest sister had gone to California to join her husband who was in the Navy and was mentored by an older kind, loving saint who gently led her to make the change.  It was not hard for her at all as hardly anyone wore them in California.  I'm sure my non-professing dad was glad to see us make that 'crossing' though he never did complain, as far as I know.

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“Plague of Blackness” Lifts

So happy days were here again!! Professing women all over the country began changing the color of their leg wear. Some women admitted they had been praying for this for years and now, their prayers had been heard!  They wasted no time getting rid of the hated black stockings and putting on tan stockings (or gun-metal, or gray, or salt-and-pepper brown-and-beige, or taupe).  To put on flesh-colored hosiery was still considered (almost) a sin; it really took courage to make that much of a drastic change, and bordered on being REAL worldly and perhaps, losing out. My Mother wrote:

I NEVER got used to wearing Black Stockings in public and I hated them right up until the day I took them off for good and threw them away. I remember the day ‘I changed over.’ !  There are no words to describe what freedom I felt when I donned my first pair of gun-metal gray hose and saw my legs in the mirror!  I couldn't get enough of looking at my own legs!  The first day I didn't wear Black Stocking to work, I happily walked down the sidewalk looking at my reflection in the store windows as I walked.  I was in awe of my own legs!  They weren't black!  I stared at them for several blocks to and from the bus stop, as though it were a dream come true. The NIGHTMARE was finally OVER!

I just knew it would be years and years…when I was counting the years I actually wore black stockings, the total was in actuality only 5 years.  But in that 5 years of my really important teens and early 20's, the effect it had was to rob me of much more than years but an important part of my youth.

When the break with black stockings came, one of the friends had worn them so long, she felt it would be as traumatic to take them off as to wear them.  What would the neighbors think? A brother worker told her she would just have to live it down.  What?  Live something DOWN that separated the saint women as peculiar people?  I thought principles were something we lived UP to, and black stockings did seem to be a principle for years.

The transition wasn’t orderly and did not occur simultaneously in all areas, it seems. Women in some states took off their black stockings, while neighboring states continued to wear them.  As is still the case, outward customs and traditions depend on the state overseer:

I remember going to Freedom, NY convention and seeing mostly non-black stockings, and to Hollidaysburg (Newry) PA convention and seeing mostly black, in the same years. Jim Beacom was head worker in PA and a most determined enforcer of black stockings.  (Martha Nelson Knight)

Martha also recounted the time her Aunt Alice Nelson, ‘went out to preach’ in her home state of Pennsylvania.  The Spring Special Meeting was held in the schoolhouse, and her aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers sisters and parents were all there looking forward to seeing and hearing Alice preach for the first time since she went in the work. Alice and her companion and the head worker in Pennsylvania (Jim Beacom) and his companion were the workers there.

At the Spring Special Meeting there were representatives of the black-stocking loyalists and the lighter-stocking modernists. Chief among the black-stocking loyalists was Jim Beacom, a dramatic, kivver-to-kivver, scary-story, hell-and-damnation, long-winded preacher. Among the females wearing non-black was fledgling worker Alice Nelson.

My recollection is that Alice was not permitted to speak from the platform that day. And when Beacom did, it was to deliver a pointed harangue about letting worldliness creep in, being a slave to vanity, women who did not dress in a way that becomes God's people, those who were not willing to be a peculiar people, those who would not bear a little suffering and shame, those who wanted to be modern and to be accepted by worldly friends and had ‘The Lit'ry Digest’ and other worldly magazines in their homes. . .

Sitting on the platform, Aunt Alice tucked her feet back as far as possible under her mid-calf skirt, clasped her hands over her open Bible in her lap, and looked straight ahead, then finally down at the floor, and I saw some tears trickle from under her lashes. My mother was uncomfortable; my father was tense and his color got ruddier. But Grampa finally got up, as Beacom thundered on, and walked out of the room, out of the schoolhouse, and up the road to the farm (a quarter of a mile or so). Deeply offended and angered, he did not go to meetings for many years.

Black Stockings had lasting effects for some women.  Being the object of scorn and ridicule, some feel black stockings caused extreme self-consciousness, meticulousness, shyness, low self-esteem, introversion. Black stockings were the dark "robber" of the youth of many young girls, who were trapped with the outward appearance of an old woman. My aunt who was the first one in her meeting in northern Mississippi to shed her black stockings, has never TO THIS DAY put on a pair of  black sheer hose!  Furthermore, she absolutely detests any black clothing on anyone, and she never wears black.  Even though I begged, my Mother refused to let me wear a pair of black leotards when I was young!

At first, nylons were made with dark seams that ran up the back of the leg. It was difficult to keep the seam running perfectly straight.  Later a method was designed to make seamless nylons.  As usual, the workers were reluctant for professing women to begin wearing the improved seamless nylons, perhaps because it would look like they weren’t wearing any hose at all? However, it seemed to be OK for the young girls to wear seamless, as they had little experience in keeping their seams straight. Eventually, most all the women began to wear seamless nylons.

Thus, black turned to shades of grey running the gamut from gunmetal to taupe but, as you would expect, there could be no stopping the tide. Today, the legs of the ladies, old and young, are adorned with whatever color is fashionable, and if you were to ask any one of the latter about ‘The Black Stocking Controversy’, they would, more than likely, stare at you blankly and tell you they have no idea what you're talking about. (In Vain They do Worship, by Willis Young, pp. 36-37)

Black Stockings went full circle.  For a time in the 1930-40’s, if professing women didn’t wear them, they suffered for it; then after awhile, if professing women continued to wear them, some got into trouble with the workers.  In the 1970’s, when a sister worker refused to take off her black stockings and change to tan, she was put out of the work.

Hilda Blaue started in the work around 1924 in Wisconsin and preached there many years, before going to Michigan. Hilda was a very strong believer in the black stockings.  View her photo wearing black stockings in the Photo Gallery.  Hilda’s younger companion found it very embarrassing that Hilda continued to wear black stockings, and was concerned as to how it appeared to outsiders attending their meetings. She was afraid it would hinder the Lord’s work. The companion tried hard, without success, to get Hilda to change to tan stockings, but Hilda flatly refused.  Then in the mid 1970’s, Hilda was told to leave the work--because she would not stop wearing black stockings!  She had nowhere to go except to her sister in Nebraska, who did not profess.  The reason Hilda would not change to tan stockings was because back in the 1920’s when people were complaining about having to wear black stockings, Hilda had made a vow to God that she would never complain, and that she would always wear black stockings until the day she died.  Well, Hilda argued that she could not change or break her vow to God. So she was put out of the work for keeping her vow to God, and spent the rest of her days in Nebraska. It seems some other workers thought keeping vows made to the Lord were not as high priority as the wearing the right color of stockings.

Speaking to Tom Schroeder, a brother worker "said that the black stocking were never an issue in the truth.  Why women could have put on the tan stockings any time they wanted to, but they didn't do it because they loved to wear the black." He couldn't have been further from the truth!

My Mother wrote:

We didn't understand that it is our heart that God looks upon, never hearing or being taught in meetings that we will not be saved by what we do, but by what Christ did, His life and death:

1 Sam. 16:7:  But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

2 Cor. 10:7:  Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's.

When I think of all the ‘wood, hay and stubble’ (1 Cor 3:12), those works that will be burned, I weep. All that painful,suffering--so unnecessary, so uncalled for.  I see so clearly today that this is what suffering really is:

'We must realize that only divinely ordained purposeful suffering, not suffering per se, is Godly.  God is glorified through suffering brought upon us because of our faithfulness to Christ, not by what we bring upon ourselves through an attempt to prove ourselves faithful.’ (Statement by Audrey W. Johnson)

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Will History Repeat Itself Soon??

The workers were wrong—dead wrong about the need for professing women to wear Black Stockings. Without question, this error on their part caused untold grief and misery to countless women!  They were TERRIBLY wrong once!  Could they be wrong again?  In other matters?  Can the friends learn anything from the past mistakes of the workers?  Or must History Repeat Itself?

Are the workers possibly wrong in their requirements for women today? Are there traditions of men that the workers have made into commandments of God--that were never meant to be?  Are there  some black stocking issues existing in "the truth" today?

Is it REALLY wrong for women to trim their hair and wear it down? To wear cosmetics, slacks or shorts?  Is it really wrong to have a television or see a movie? etc.?  Don’t these requirements impose needless hardships on 2x2s, just like the black stockings did?  Don’t these requirements keep them from getting certain jobs, cause them to make less income, make their lives appear uninviting to outsiders.  Don’t these requirements make the women stand out by what they wear, rather than point to Jesus?  Aren't these traditions totally without Biblical foundation, just as the black stockings were?  Aren't these traditions merely men's preferences...as the black stockings were George Walker's preference?  Are the women not, in essence, wearing 21st century phylacteries, as the Pharisees did?

Consider how God symbolically described the way He treated the nation of Israel because of His love for them.  He adorned the nation with jewelry and fine clothing.  "Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD."  (Ezekiel 16:9-14)

Q:  When has every dictatorship in history fallen?
A:  When the peons refused to go along with it any longer.

Q:  When will the people refuse to follow the workers’ outward requirements?
A:  If history follows its usual course, it won’t be when the overseers give them permission.
It will be when they take matters into their own hands, refuse to follow the requirements any longer, and follow instead their own convictions.

Q:  When will the workers trust the Holy Spirit to guide His people?
A:  When the friends insist on it.

ADDENDUM: In the year 2007, it has come to our attention that a few professing women and girls have started to cut their hair and wear it down; wear some jewelry and make-up; and wear slacks to meeting. 

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The following Letter written by George Walker Regarding Black Stockings was undated.

2350 East Susquehanna Ave.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  25,

Dear Friends;

A letter, containing a misleading statement concerning what I said in a workers’ mtg. regarding black stockings, having been circulated amongst my friends I feel I should write the following:

Over seventeen years ago, a man who did not profess and with whom I was not acquainted came to me at a special mtg, and complained that his wife, who had recently professed, was wearing black stockings at the advice of the sister Worker she had professed through.  Previous to this I had given little thought to the color of hosiery worn by our sisters.  I knew when long dresses were worn it was considered all right to wear different colors.

I talked with some of the older sister workers that I had cause to have a great deal of confidence in.  They believe it would be better for all to wear black.  At Conventions that year I asked this questions:  “IF all sisters were satisfied in there (sic) minds that their wearing black was pleasing to the Lord, would their doing so hurt the Lord’s work?”  I expressed my opinion that it would not.

I favored black because it was furthermost (sic) from the flesh color that many of us believed was unbecoming to “women professing godliness.”  At no time did I say black was the only modest color.  I spoke against the wearing of it being a condition of fellowship.  I did not, and I do not, believe using pressure on people, to make them go beyond what is in their heart, or to do what they are not convinced in their minds they should do, is profitable to them or to The Lord’s work.

I am personally acquainted with a  number of sister’s (sic) workers and saints who believe it is pleasing to the Lord for them to continue wearing the black they have always worn.  I appreciate their willingness to bear reproach for being true to their convictions.  I have seen other qualities in them that causes me to “esteem them highly.”  I am acquainted with other sisters who believe their wearing other modest colors is pleasing to the Lord.  I have no reason to doubt their tureens (sic) and sincerity.  I have seen in them manifestation of the Spirit of Christ that causes me to “esteem” them highly.”

There are other parts of a woman’s attire that it may be needful to mention.  Is the wearing of a dress that does not come to a reasonable length below the knees, when she is seated, becoming to a “woman professing Godliness”?  The scriptures speak expressly about outward adorning, wearing of gold, plaiting of hair.  We are sometime grieved to see some of our sisters wearing large showy broaches, and we fear the wrist watch, when worn as an adornment especially a gold one, with gold band, is not in keeping with the instructions given in Peters Epistle.  We fear the tendency some of our sisters have to follow the latest fads in arranging their hair does not add weight to their testimony.

During the past few years, we have not said much in conventions or other meetings about outward appearance.  We have had a strong desire to so speak and act that Love would be increased amongst us.  If we have in our Hearts unfeigned Love for the Lord, we will so Love His work and people that we will be very careful not to hurt His work or cause the weakest amongst His people to stumble by what we wear or do or say.

We will be anxious to excel in graces and virtues that are mentioned so many times in both Old and New Testament, the forgiving Spirit that enables us to forgive from the heart everyone who has wronged us or in any way hurt our feelings.  The compassion, the sympathy, the brotherly love, that enables us to forbear and be patient with all and that causes our Fellowship to be profitable and pleasant.  If we lack these things we cannot “adorn the Doctrine.” Though our outward appearance is correct according to the Scriptures.  Seeing that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul and Peter to mention these things, we should not consider the outward unimportant.  Our unwillingness to “Obey” in this may indicate a rebellious Spirit that  prevents the Lord working in us and us having the condition of Heart and Spirit that in the “sight of God” is of great price.

Recently I have been impressed with the word Servant as used by Paul.  In RV Version it is translated Slave.  We know a slave has little to say regarding what he will do or say or how he will act towards others.  I would like in the future to be more like a faithful slave.

With love and good wishes to all who Love His Name and Way,
Your Servant for Christ’s sake.

George Walker

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The following by Jack Carroll Regarding Black Stockings was undated.

We are more anxious than ever that God's children should be rooted and grounded and established in the faith, and that they should be able to give sound and Scriptural reasons of the hope that is in them, and for all that they believe as God's children. One of the reasons why many of God's people hesitate to give their testimony and speak to their friends and relations about the things of God is because they are a little bit afraid they might not be able to prove from the Scriptures the statements they might make, and because of this fear they remain silent. There is no excuse whatever for this, because we as the people of God are building upon a sure foundation. There is absolutely nothing about the truth in Jesus that we need be ashamed of. Every child of God, and especially the younger children of God, those who will some day fill the places we are now filling, should make a special effort to master what the Scriptures teach about the New Testament church and ministry.

I have always had a feeling in my mind that I had to see before I believed, and I rejoice that from the beginning of my life as a child of God I recognized the importance of being a diligent student of God's word and wanted to prove everything I was supposed to believe, and especially the truths I was expected to contend for as the faith once for all delivered unto the saints. We have been tremendously disappointed in many of our young people that they do not show this diligence, and that they do not witness for Him among their friends and associates as they might, and in this way fit themselves for filling a place in God's great harvest field later on. We hope one of the results of this convention will be that all of us, young and old, will be more diligent in our study of God's word, and will form the habit of mastering those precious truths that have been given to us, so that we will be able to speak intelligently to our friends about the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

I believe many of us in this meeting have not ventured to give our testimony, except in Sunday morning meetings and week evening meetings, and the only time we confess Christ is in the presence of god's people. Perhaps the root reason for this is that they do not feel very sure of their ground, and that feeling can be attributed to their own lack of diligence in the matter of proving for themselves from the scriptures that we are building on a foundation that cannot be moved, and that we are in our day contending for the faith that was once for all delivered unto the saints.

Sometimes we have a little difficulty when people ask us what we call ourselves. It is very comforting and assuring to know that the word of God from the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation is on our side, and that we find our way of worship and our way of service clearly defined within the covers of God's book, and within no other book. These sixty-six books talk all we need to know about God's way of salvation and worship and of service. There is nothing that we need to be ashamed of in connection with the ministry, and there is certainly nothing we need to be ashamed of telling our friends with regard to what we believe about the church. if this convention is to be of any real value in the extension of the Kingdom of God, it can only be such as we witness for Him by life and lip.

If I were to ask you a number of questions about the ministry , how many could turn over to chapter and verse in order to give me the true scriptural way? Would you be able to tell your friends just exactly the scriptures we necessarily must fulfil (sic fulfill) if we are to have any place in this ministry? In talking to our friends we are very vague. We give answers to their questions which lead them up into the air, and after they have talked to us they are just as wise as they were before. How good it would be if the younger children of god, as well as the older ones, would spend a little more time in searching the scriptures and getting to see how solid is the foundation we are building on as God's children.

While we can doubt and question every other faith, so-called, and while we recognize that men everywhere are building on sinking, shifting sand, how good it is to be able to look into the faces of men with confidence and with the deep conviction that God Himself has created within us, be able to give a sound and solid reason for the hope that is within us. I wonder if the parents here are taking any real interest in instructing in instructing (sic) their children in the way of life. Do they recognize that they have but a few brief years to sow the seeds in the hearts of their children, which may not ripen perhaps until later in life, but if it is faithfully sown they can have a hope that the seed will ultimately have the same result as in the life of Moses, who at forty years of age refused to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

We have a sort of knowledge of the truth. We know God's people are divided into saints and servants. Sometimes they are called sheep and shepherds; sometimes they are called saints of the Kingdom and the undershepherds are called ambassadors. That is all fine, but are you clear in your mind with regard to the scriptural distinction between the saints and the servants of God? If I were to ask you the real New Testament difference between the saints and the servants of God what would you say? One man answering this question said the difference was that the servants of God sacrificed all and the saints of God used all in the extension of God's Kingdom. All that man had -- his home, his business, everything, was fully consecrated to God, and his greatest delight was to use his home and all he had for the extension of God's Kingdom in the world. He got real joy out of his worship and service, far more than those who are half- hearted in their self-denial.

How many of us are really clear on the conditions that must be fulfilled by those who are to have a part in this ministry? God's people demand greater sacrifices from their preachers than any other people in the world. They insist that the preachers must sacrifice all, and they say they believe in no other kind of preachers but those who sacrifice all for the Gospel's sake. That is quite right, but suppose you were asked for Scriptures to prove this, could you talk intelligently to your friends about it? There is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in anything that Jesus lived and taught. Jesus said on one occasion, "If any man is ashamed of Me and My words, of Him will the Father be ashamed." We are not so bold in our witnessing for Christ as we ought to be as His people in the world. It may be that the reason for our silence is our lack of confidence and assurance, wondering if this foundation we are building on is solid and if these things are clearly taught within the pages of God's own word. I would to God that your convictions were deepened, and were so deep that you would have no hesitation whatever in telling men exactly what you believe.

Sometimes in talking to our friends we say we don't believe in a preacher who is preaching for hire and lifting a collection, but when asked what kind of a preacher we do believe in, we find it difficult to explain. There is nothing to hesitate over in connection with God's way of taking care of His bond-servants, and if we have been somewhat backward in making clear this thing, it isn't because we are ashamed of God's way, but we have hesitated to speak lest some should think we had an unworthy motive in making clear what God's method really is.

Supposing that at the close of this meeting some should come up and say they would like to go forth to preach, what conditions would we put before them? We would ask them first of all, are you willing to make yourself poor for Jesus' sake? Are you willing to become homeless for Jesus' sake? Are you willing to recognize the claims of Jesus above the claims of brother or sister, father or mother? Are you willing to go forth preaching the Gospel without any guaranteed support, and with no liberty to lift collections or to beg for money? Are you willing to go anywhere in the world to preach the Gospel? When a man makes up his mind to go forth he can set no limit, for the commission is "Go ye forth into all the world." The last question we would ask, and perhaps the most serious, Are you willing not only to go anywhere, but with anybody?

In the Kingdom of God a sacrifice is demanded on the part of the servants of the Lord that no other people in the world consider as being part of the teachings of Jesus; and yet when we depart from the simplicity of this plan of Jesus, or weaken on any of these fundamentals, then we depart from the faith. Do you love these men and women who have made this sacrifice? Do you look upon it as something that is entirely one sided? Or do you recognize the privilege you have of having fellowship with them in living for the furtherance of the Gospel and the extension of God's Kingdom?

The word church occurs 112 times in the N.T. and in the Gospels it occurs three times. The word "Kingdom" occurs 116 times. The word "church" occurs more frequently in the epistles than it does in the Gospels and the reason is that the church is God's chosen instrument for the realization, and manifestation, and extension of His Kingdom in this world. Every individual child of God, every member of His church, is here for one purpose as far as God is concerned, and that is to so walk and order their lives that God's great Kingdom may be furthered and the coming of His Kingdom hastened.

This word church is used in two different senses in the N.T. It is used of God's people as a whole, and in a local sense. In the first chapter of Revelations the church is spoken of under the figure of a golden candle. The thought that this suggests is that every little group of God's people, the citizens of His Kingdom who are called out and separated from the world, are to be in their own particular community a light. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in Heaven." Every individual child of God is to be a light giver. The little groups we speak of as being churches are also supposed to be light givers. Sometimes I am almost staggered by this thought that the only light God has in the world, His only means of helping and enlightening others, are the individual citizens of His Kingdom, and the little groups that meet together as churches throughout the land. They are to be as a light to the community. We have been gladdened by hearing of some of the neighbors of the saints, who after a period of years have been so impressed by seeing the children of God week in and week out, year in and year out, meeting together in certain homes, that they have come and asked permission to attend those meetings, with the result that many after attending three or four Sunday morning meetings have gotten up and said, "Thy God shall be my God; and thy people shall be my people."

God's eternal purpose was that every little group should feel the tremendous responsibility that rests upon them, not only as individuals but as a group, that they are God's only witnesses in their community. If this thought took root in our minds it would cause us to walk more carefully in the future. Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if every child of God realized, I am expected to be a light, and if every little group lived in such hearty fellowship with Him and with each other that as a result those people, too who may have been looking on perhaps for years would say, "I would like to come in among those people, too." The heartiest people we know are those who are most interested in witnessing for Christ and seeking to win others to be members of His body.

The church in the home and the preacher without a home are vital. We cannot depart from either of them. I have rejoiced ten thousand times in the wonderful wisdom of God in connection with the gathering together of His people on the first day of the week. What a terrible calamity it would be if we as the servants of God had to be continually occupied with building synagogues, but our eyes have been opened to see that the building of synagogues and the hiring of preachers belongs to Babylon. When we hire preachers, we, too, have become associated with part of that Babylonish system which will ultimately be destroyed. It is very wonderful that God has so planned it that instead of amassing substance, His people can meet together and His work be carried on without the very things other religious people of the world claim to be absolutely essential to worship and serve Him.

You might ask, Where are the scriptures that teach us so simply and clearly that God's people in N.T. days met together to worship God in the homes, and only in the homes of His own people? That would be a revelation to your friends to know that there is absolutely no record in the N.T. of the early Christians investing a dollar in real estate, and yet today billions of dollars are invested in every country in the world, so-called Christians, for what they claim to be the worship and service of God.

It is a very wonderful thing that Jesus instituted the breaking of bread on the night of the passover feast. That is always a very comforting thing to me. I wonder if you really value the simplicity of Jesus and the church in the home. When you leave your own home to meet in the home of another where two or three are gathered together in the Lord's name, you should look upon that as one of the greatest privileges you can have as God's child today; and as you walk or drive there it is a testimony to your friends which may perhaps some day result in their becoming interested in and wanting to have a part in this thing also with you.

Do you who have the church in your home look upon this as a privilege? We would not like to have a church in any home where this was looked upon as an irksome thing, or a hard thing, or where those in the home looked upon it as meaning a lot of extra work. If we thought any had any of these thoughts in their minds we immediately take the church from your home and place it in another that would be more worthy. On that Day on the side some of your sweetest memories will be the fact that you had fellowship with Priscilla and Aquila, and others who at great inconvenience welcomed God's people under their roof, to sing His praise and worship Him in spirit and in truth.

I wonder if there are any who have formed the habit of being absent from the meeting on the first day of the week, forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is. That was written to saints who were suffering a great deal of reproach. They are feeling that this was entirely too much, and little by little they began to absent themselves from the meetings. The writer to the Hebrews had a great fear that some of them might first go altogether and fall down and go over to the enemy, and that they would fight in their ranks against their former friends. What would you think a reasonable excuse for a child of God being absent from the meeting? It might be easy for you to make an excuse, but it be more difficult to give a reason. This is an appointment which we don't make with one another. It is an appointment we make with God, and He has said that wherever two or three are gathered together in His name He will be there in their midst. Those who feel a desire to honor, and please Him, and submit to His rules, will be in their right place on the first day of the week.

You should not come too early to the meeting, but if you come early don't spend the time in useless gossip. It would be much better to take your place in the meeting room, and read and meditate, and seek to have your spirit brought into the condition where you will enjoy God's fellowship. Many a meeting is absolutely ruined by too much talking before the meeting begins, and sometimes by too much visiting after the meeting is over. I don't say you shouldn't have a little friendly word with each other, but don't waste time in useless conversation.

I have said more than once that if some of us attended your meetings for five or six times we would be able to memorize your prayers, for you pray the same prayer all the time. Each one of God's children should form the habit of praying briefly if they want to pray in Sunday morning meeting. We don't care how long you pray in private, but in public your prayers should be short. It isn't necessary to pray all around the world, and for everybody in it. Do that in the secret place, but in fellowship meeting remember you are expected to pray to edification. Two or three phrases from your heart that all your brethren could say a hearty 'amen' to would result in everyone being edified and blest. We like parents to bring their children to the Sunday morning meeting, but we don't like those children to be wearied unnecessarily by the long prayers of God's people. If there are a number in the meeting it would be well to arrange to have two periods of prayer, one at the beginning and the other at the close of the meeting, so that all would have an opportunity to take part. Make a fresh start and let your prayers be brief and fresh next Sunday.

Sometimes if we went to your meetings for five or six Sundays we might be able to memorize not only our prayers but your testimony also. Don't say the same thing every Sunday morning. Be fresh in your testimony and don't preach too long. Very often a meeting is absolutely ruined by someone deliberately and wantonly taking time that belongs to another and using it. An average meeting should not take up more than one hour or an hour and a quarter. I have been in meetings where other workers took part and the meeting was over an hour and a quarter. The kind of testimony that goes on forever will not help or edify anyone.

If there is anything that is calculated to hinder others and hinder the extension of God's Kingdom, it is for any of you as God's children when a stranger comes into your midst to whet your sword and go for that man or woman and hack him to pieces. That is what some of you do. Many and many a person has been hurt and wounded and caused to say "I will never go back to that meeting again:, by the spirit manifested toward them, and the way in which they were needlessly attacked by those who should have recognized they were responsible for speaking to the edification of the saints. What is the right and proper course for saints to take when strangers are present? It is to conduct your meeting as if they were not there. Speak to edification, pass on those thoughts God has put in your hearts and minds, without any particular reference or applying what you may say to any person present. If you do that those who come into your midst will go out to confess that God is in your meetings of a truth. I believe the older workers are responsible where any transgress along the lines I am speaking, for talking personally with that person and asking him never again when a stranger comes into a church meeting to make it unpleasant for him. But to forget about his presence and endeavor to speak whatever of edification God has given to him as a member of His Church.

It would be a mistake for all who have the privilege of having the meeting in their home to assume that they were necessarily elders in the N.T. meaning of the word. Some are elders, and some who now lead meetings may some day be considered elders of the church, but it would be wrong for all who give out the hymns to consider that they are elders.

We gave you four words last year to guide you in connection with your purchases during the year -- economy, simplicity, modesty, and neatness. What the scripture teaches about the dress question is covered by these four words, and we will have no complaint if the daughters of Zion give evidence that in all their purchases during the year they do it as unto the Lord, remembering that if they are to have a testimony of value it will be well for them to be guided by these four words. We don't want to make rules or laws for God's children that would bring them into unnecessary bondage. We believe we can safely trust our sisters in Christ in this matter, which is such a serious matter, as far as they are concerned, if they will be guided by these four words. If they do this, it will result in their having a testimony for God that will be of value.

We would like our sisters here to look upon the sister workers as a safe guide in this matter. There is no need for an absolute uniformity. We know this is a very serious question, and we believe that in some cases at least there could be a little improvement in this matter. We don't like to see any wearing stockings so closely like having no stockings on at all, and we feel perfectly sure that when you buy your next pair if you remember these four words, especially the word modesty, you will be more careful not only with regard to material but also with regard to color.

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