Christ

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="054fd5a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Tyler - Longview Christadelphian Ecclesia</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tyler Longview Christadelphian Ecclesia"><B>home</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Who We Are">Who We Are</A><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Symbol" >   ·   </FONT><A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News and Events">News and Events</A><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Symbol" >   ·   </FONT><A HREF="id64.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ecclesial Statements">Ecclesial Statements</A><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Symbol" >   ·   </FONT><A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Daily Bible Readings">Daily Bible Readings</A><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Symbol" >   · 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valign="top" height=390 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> <B>Christ</B></div> <bR> <div> We cannot put Christ too high.</div> <div> God hath given him a name above every name, even His own name, the name of God,</div> <div> which shortly cometh from far.</div> <div> He is the Way the Truth, the Life, the Resurrection, the Hope.</div> <div> He is the head;</div> <div> the beginning of the creation of God,</div> <div> the firstborn of every creature, Alpha and Omega, the first and the last,</div> <div> who is, and who was, and is to come, the Lord Almighty.</div> <div> (Rev. 1:8,11,17)</div> <div> His name shall endure forever.</div> <div> The earth shall at the last and for evermore be filled with His glory,</div> <div> when the institutions and the pomp, and the pride,</div> <div> and the theories of men shall for ever have disappeared from below the sun.</div> <div> Let us, then, give good heed to the apostolic warning.</div> <div> If we nurse defective, not to say, degrading, views of the greatness of Christ,</div> <div> we shall be unfitted to participate in the song of renown,</div> <div> or to fill an acceptable place in his service when he comes to be glorified in his saints,</div> <div> and to be admired in all them that believe.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> Seasons of Comfort</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Christ is the pattern - the standard.</div> <div> We cannot go too far if we do not go beyond him.</div> <div> We cannot rise too high if we keep within his altitude.</div> <div> That is to say, we cannot be too enlightened, too profound,</div> <div> in our perceptions of the subtle relations of Deity,</div> <div> or too decided in our preference for</div> <div> “the things of the spirit.”</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> “In Him are hid the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”</div> <div> Hence, absolutely, and in mature development,</div> <div> a son of God is a person in whom dwells a fully developed enlightenment in divine things.</div> <div> This is “the measure and stature of the fullness of Christ.”</div> <div> But what is the meaning of these words reduced to concrete phrases?</div> <div> Definite knowledge and positive convictions</div> <div> in relation to what God has revealed-</div> <div> Full assurance of faith based on clear perceptions.</div> <div> Uncertainty and doubt are evidences of spiritual abortion.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> “Do this in remembrance of me.”</div> <div> ... This breaking of bread brings home to us</div> <div> the fact that before his exaltation,</div> <div> he was truly our brother -</div> <div> born of our common nature, a partaker of all our afflictions,</div> <div> standing in our position, bearing our sins, tasting our death,</div> <div> made in all things like unto his brethren.</div> <div> There is comfort in the thought that he trod the same path we are now treading,</div> <div> coming through the same experience of weakness, trial, faith and hope.</div> <div> There is force in the declaration that we have not a High Priest</div> <div> that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.</div> <div> There is strength for us in the fact that his sympathy is real and active;</div> <div> that though now exalted, he has not lost the memory of his woes,</div> <div> but remembers the time when he was</div> <div> a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> Seasons of Comfort</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> We must fellowship the sufferings of Christ, </div> <div> before we shall be privileged to fellowship his glory;</div> <div> But when the battle is over, we shall feel the truth of what Paul says:</div> <div> ” I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”</div> <div>  (Rom 8:18)</div> <div> Just for the present, we are in the Valley of Humiliation; </div> <div> we are in a state of weakness and sin, </div> <div> but keeping our eyes steadfastly fixed on the morning dawn </div> <div> that has been so long held up in promise to human view, </div> <div> we are enabled to persevere and work until the night comes,</div> <div> when no man can work- </div> <div> a night that has come to all who have gone before us,</div> <div> and may come to us,</div> <div> but which will quickly be ended by the bright rising of that Sun of Righteousness, </div> <div> who will usher in the eternal day.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> The work of the gospel is Christ's work- and not ours;</div> <div> it therefore behooves us to perform our part with the modesty of stewards</div> <div> who shall render account;</div> <div> and with the holy decorum becoming those who have been taken into</div> <div> partnership with the Father and the Son.</div> <div>  Brother F.R. Shuttleworth</div> <div> The Christadelphian 1875</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> It shall be to you a fringe that you may look upon and</div> <div> `remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them,'</div> <div> and that `ye seek not after your own hearts and your own eyes.'</div> <div> Blueness is associated in the Scriptures with healthy healing wounds ...</div> <div> (Prov. 20:30)</div> <div> This is a beautiful suggestion considering we are wounded by sin,</div> <div> and that the memory of Yahweh's commandments is the cure.</div> <div> The fringe of blue was to be on the garments daily worn....</div> <div> Bible godliness - the remembrance of Yahweh with obedience</div> <div> is a thing for daily wear - a light to always shine -</div> <div> a fragrance never absent from the “walk or conversation” -</div> <div> It's object was to bring Yahweh's commandments to memory.</div> <div> constant memory.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Excellent men are universally admired for what they are</div> <div> in themselves,</div> <div> even though the excellence is not rooted in them,</div> <div> but is a mere organic phenomenon,</div> <div> like the beauty and fragrance of the rose.</div> <div> But in Christ the excellence we see is rooted in himself</div> <div> by reason of the indwelling of God.</div> <div> And what is this excellence?</div> <div> It is every excellence.</div> <div> There is no excellence that was ever seen among man that is not</div> <div> to be found in him in superlative degree-</div> <div> and there are excellencies in him never known to man.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> We need to remember that when gathered before the Table</div> <div> we are in the presence of Yahweh,</div> <div> and we should aim to keep that well in mind.</div> <div> When Moses was in the desert, he was told to</div> <div> “take off his shoes for the ground on which he stood was holy ground”</div> <div> - made such by the presence of the angel.</div> <div> Therefore, the Memorial Meetings should not be denigrated to mere social gatherings,</div> <div> but should be elevated into solemn occasions of worship in which the greatest reverence is observed</div> <div> in conscious realization of the presence of Yahweh.</div> <div> Proper dress, decorum, mental preparation and so forth will help elevate the meetings</div> <div> and transform them into wonderful uplifting meetings with our God-</div> <div> Brother H.P. Mansfield</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> We must fellowship the suffering of Christ, </div> <div> before we shall be privileged to fellowship his glory;</div> <div>  but when the battle is over,</div> <div>  we shall feel the truth of what Paul says</div> <div>  “that the sufferings of the present time are nothing to be compared</div> <div>  with the glory that shall be revealed in us.” </div> <div> Just for the present, we are in the Valley of Humiliation; </div> <div> we are in a state of weakness and sin,</div> <div>  but keeping our eye steadfastly fixed on the morning dawn </div> <div> that has been so long held up in promise to human view, </div> <div> we are enabled to persevere and work until the night comes, </div> <div> when no man can work-</div> <div> a night that has come to all who have gone before us, </div> <div> and may come to us, </div> <div> but which will quickly be ended by the bright rising of that Sun of Righteousness, </div> <div> who will usher in eternal day.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> 1868</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> We come at last to the bright particular “star that rose out of Jacob;</div> <div> the sceptre that rose out of Israel”-</div> <div> to whom give all the prophets witness-</div> <div> the rod out of the stem of Jesse; the branch that grew out of his roots-</div> <div> the promised Seed-God manifest in the flesh.</div> <div>  And what see we? A hero in triumph? A king in glory?</div> <div>  No! He came to his own, and his own received him not.</div> <div>  They saw no beauty in him to desire him. They hid their faces from him. </div> <div> He was despised and afflicted; a man of no esteem-</div> <div> a friend of publicans and sinners-who had not where to lay his head.</div> <div>  A man of sorrow, who made grief his companion; </div> <div> the Heir of all things : </div> <div> on account of whom the ages have been constituted, the economy of things set in order.</div> <div>  If he was cast out in his day, shall we begrudge our unpopularity? </div> <div> If he went about doing good, shall we not addict ourselves to the same calling, </div> <div> unprofitable and foolish in the eyes of the world? </div> <div> If to him, his meat and his drink was to do the will of his Father,</div> <div>  shall we join a brainless generation in the intoxicated fascination</div> <div>  of the petty prosperities of the present order of things, and in their forgetfulness of God?</div> <div> Nay; if we are called fools for our pains, even by such as ought to know better,</div> <div>  we will emulate the Son of God in our consecration to the high calling</div> <div>  to which God has called all perishing mortals, with willing ears.</div> <div>  We remember that he said we must deny ourselves;</div> <div>  and we say “Lord, help us to please not our carnal selves,</div> <div>  but thyself who hast bought us.”</div> <div>  We remember that it hath been told us that he left us an example </div> <div> that we should follow in his steps; </div> <div> and when we think that he was meek and lowly of heart, </div> <div> and that he was led like a lamb before its shearers, dumb, opening not his mouth, </div> <div> we pray to be conformed to his image,</div> <div>  not rendering evil for evil or railing for raiting, nor avenging ourselves,</div> <div>  but committing our cause to Him that judgeth righteously, </div> <div> and who will assuredly repay the adversary abundantly.</div> <div>  We remember his request of love that we should celebrate his memory </div> <div> weekly in the breaking of bread; and we say, </div> <div> “We will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is.”</div> <div>  We remember that he said “I will come again,”</div> <div>  and we say, </div> <div> “Come, Lord Jesus; come quickly. Amen!”</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> 1873</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Eighteen hundred years ago, </div> <div> Jesus Christ-the manifestation of God in the flesh of human nature, </div> <div> for the purpose of rescuing it from its condemned and hopeless plight,</div> <div> -walked the earth as “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;” </div> <div> and having in the loving surrender of his life, </div> <div> advanced his mission to an intended preliminary stage, </div> <div> he rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on high, </div> <div> that unknown center of manifested Deity where he now appears</div> <div>  as the priestly representative of those who under the arrangement </div> <div> are constituted “sons of God.” </div> <div> Is he for ever to remain in that high position?</div> <div>  Will he always be shrouded in the impenetrable glory </div> <div> of which he said “whither I go, ye cannot come.” ( John 8:21 .)</div> <div>  Will he always be absent from the earth which his Father has given him? </div> <div> Will he never finish the work which he commenced in this vale of tears? </div> <div> Will he never rise as the Sun of Righteousness </div> <div> to chase away the murky shadows of sin; misery. pain, and death? </div> <div> Will he never return to open the gates of death, </div> <div> which retain his prisoners of hope in the solitary caverns of the tomb? </div> <div> Will he never come to be “glorified in his saints, </div> <div> and to be admired in all them that believe?' </div> <div> Shall he never come to receive the homage of all peoples, nations,</div> <div>  and languages, in the place where he was put to shame?</div> <div> Thank God for a jubilant and unmistakable reply to these questions.</div> <div>  If there is one point of christian belief more capable of demonstration</div> <div>  than another, it is the declaration in our summary of the truth-</div> <div> “That for this purpose (of turning “the kingdoms of this world into the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ”) </div> <div> Jesus Christ will be manifested from heaven and appear again upon the earth.”</div> <div> The testimony on this point is voluminous, explicit, and invulnerably conclusive.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Our meeting is a matter of command.</div> <div> It is well it is so.</div> <div> If we are left to inclination, we would often be absent.</div> <div> It is good to be present.</div> <div> It is better than we would think, </div> <div> if we were merely left to theorize about it.</div> <div> We would be liable to imagine (as some do) that -</div> <div> knowing the Truth -</div> <div> it is all one whether we stay at home or come to the meeting.</div> <div> It is NOT all one.</div> <div> God, who commanded this meeting,</div> <div> knows us better than we do ourselves.</div> <div> He commanded it because He knows us -</div> <div> “It is not god for man to be alone.”</div> <div> Man requires rousing up by social contact.</div> <div> He will go to rust if left to himself all the time.</div> <div> The Truth will lose its power over us </div> <div> if we forsake the assembly of ourselves together,</div> <div> `as the manner of some is'.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> March 1887</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Christ means to bestow immortality and a kingdom, </div> <div> and, therefore, he asks a high price,</div> <div>  even the whole heart and life.</div> <div>  He is patient; but he will not, in the day of his glory, </div> <div> accept the homage of an eye-servant.</div> <div>  Many, no doubt, in that day,</div> <div>  will prostrate themselves eagerly before him, and claim kinship, </div> <div> as he himself tells us; </div> <div> but his favours will be reserved for those who faithfully serve him in his absence,</div> <div> declining association with a world that knew him not, </div> <div> taking part in the testimony of him which the world despises,</div> <div>  and diligently observing his precepts,</div> <div> while all is untoward, self-crucifying, and silent. </div> <div> He will be to us what we are to him. </div> <div> In this he is like the Father, who to the pure shews Himself pure; </div> <div> to the righteous shews Himself righteous, &c.-( Psalm 18:25 .)</div> <div>  Deny him, and he will deny us; </div> <div> confess him, and he will confess us; </div> <div> neglect him, and he will neglect us; </div> <div> serve him, and he will gird himself and make us sit down </div> <div> to meat and come forth and serve us. </div> <div> His great rule is, </div> <div> “He that doeth the will of my Father, the same is mine.” </div> <div> Often did he enforce this rule when on earth. </div> <div> He comes soon again to enforce it as he never has enforced it before. </div> <div> Of how great consequence then,</div> <div>  it is to place ourselves in the right relation </div> <div> to this rule while opportunity continues.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Long hath the night of sorrow reigned,</div> <div> The dawn shall bring us light,</div> <div> God shall appear and we shall rise</div> <div> With gladness in His sight.</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Yet a little longer, and He that shall come will come. </div> <div> He will not always tarry.</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Only for the appointed time will He leave the earth unillumined</div> <div>  and uncomforted by His presence. </div> <div> He will say to us in due time as he would say now if He might but speak, </div> <div> “Be of good cheer!”</div> <div>  “Though ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove</div> <div>  covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.</div> <div> We have need of comfort: for the night is dark and cold and prolonged, </div> <div> and the voices of snarling wolves fill the air.</div> <div>  There is abundance of comfort for us in the holy oracles: </div> <div> but with our weakness we often fail to get the full benefit.</div> <div>  Let us never despair but ever renew the conflict while the necessity lasts.</div> <div>  The assembling of ourselves together helps us.</div> <div>  In this attitude of obedience, God may have compassion upon us and help us still further</div> <div>  in the wondrous ways open to Him with whom all things are possible.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> 1880</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Jesus might well say to the people that were following him in crowds,</div> <div> “If any man is not prepared to sacrifice everything for me, he cannot be my disciple.”</div> <div> “Which of you,” says he, “wants to build a tower, </div> <div> and does not first sit down and count whether he is able to do it?” </div> <div> It is no very small matter to believe the truth-</div> <div> though a very easy and pleasant thing. </div> <div> The truth is so clear and so glorious in itself,</div> <div> that this believing it is the easiest part of our duty;</div> <div> but we may nevertheless fail to become Christ's servants in deed and in truth.</div> <div> It is in the doing of Christ's word that we gain the victory.</div> <div> It is in the keeping of his commandments that we have great reward. </div> <div> In the keeping of these, we must needs fellowship his sufferings,</div> <div> and shall then find his companionship at the table </div> <div> a new and delightful and a very profitable thing.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> 1868</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> A man's love of Christ will show itself in unfailing attendance at the table of commemoration</div> <div> and fearless bounty to those who are in need.</div> <div>   Love excelleth all the moral attributes. </div> <div>   Faith, and hope, its child, will be swallowed up in the realization of “things hoped for,” </div> <div> but love will reign for ever- the basis on which the harmony between all created things</div> <div> and their Eternal source, will be established.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts.</div> <div> 1866</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> THE human mind and body </div> <div> are incredibly marvelous creations of wisdom and capability.</div> <div> We do not use one hundredth of our potential. </div> <div> It is probably safe to say we do not use one thousandth of our potential.</div> <div> What the body can be trained to do in the lines of acrobatics and balance would be incredible </div> <div> if it were not proved by the accomplishments of some, </div> <div> as multiple somersaults in the air from a narrow bar, landing in perfect balance on the bar again.</div> <div> And as to the mind, some have memorized the whole Bible.</div> <div> Men spend a lifetime of effort and practice, and accomplish unbelievable marvels? </div> <div> All for a corruptible crown. These people are nothing special in themselves. </div> <div> It's all a matter of effort and determination: of total love and zeal for some one thing in life:</div> <div> of working and thinking while others are playing and being amused like babies (which most people are).</div> <div> It's all a matter of setting a course and sticking with it singlemindedly, day in and day out. </div> <div> What would we be able to accomplish, if we really had a total, all-consuming love for God! </div> <div> What effort are WE making to obtain an incorruptible crown? </div> <div> Do we imagine the riches of the universe will be just handed to us on a platter? </div> <div> Why<I><B> </B></I><I>us</I>, and no one else? What is so special about us? </div> <div> And yet we profess to be in the “race” for life?”striving” toward the mark?</div> <div> Earnestly preparing ourselves to the best of our ability for eternity with God. </div> <div> But we tend to just drift through life in ease and comfort, and unprogrammed, day to day, meandering self-pleasing?</div> <div>  Absurdly assuming that because we happen to be fortunate enough to have “learned the Truth” in its bare essentials,</div> <div> and have gone through the motions of baptism, and show up at some of the meetings,</div> <div> we thereby are guaranteed eternity, while the “heathen” world perishes.</div> <div> What do we think we are given seventy years preparation time for??</div> <div> Just to play and accumulate and please ourselves? </div> <div> What unutterable, tragic folly!</div> <div> As we sow, so shall we reap: God is not mocked. </div> <div> Brother Gilbert V Growcott</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div>  We yearn to bless, and see blessed, the blighted population of our fellow-men. </div> <div> We aspire to moral heights and intellectual brilliancies, which we can only now and then see afar off,</div> <div> in the rifts of the heavy-laden clouds. </div> <div> In this we groan, being every way burdened and held down. </div> <div> But we are able to indulge in right good cheer in the midst of the gloom. </div> <div> We are able to say confidently, “The afflicted state is but for a moment. </div> <div> The moment of deliverance will come. The Lord Jesus, who is our life,</div> <div> will return to the scene, and in the twinkling of an eye, we shall roll off the burden of corruption and death. </div> <div> This mortal shall put on immortality. The day of cloud will then pass for ever away. </div> <div> The fogs, and mists, and damps, and chills, of this dark night, </div> <div> will roll away before the powerful sunrise, and we shall bathe and rejoice in the clear blue of heaven, </div> <div> over-arching the scene with gladness, to the utmost encircling horizon.</div> <div> Our dim eyes will see; </div> <div> our longing hearts will swell with pure delight in God; </div> <div> our fellowship, all cramped and long-restrained in this terrible night,</div> <div> will burst forth in mighty gladness, on the right hand and on the left,</div> <div> to all the sons of God.</div> <div> O glorious day! hasten thy tardy flight hitherward.”</div> <div> We believe God that it shall be as it has been told to us.  </div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> A man is not to value any human thing on a level with the things appertaining to Christ.</div> <div> The things that are seen are all temporal-short-lived and inferior:</div> <div> the things of Christ, not yet seen, are all eternal and lofty and glorious.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> 1880</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> None of us can feel otherwise than unworthy</div> <div> in ourselves of the great goodness that</div> <div> God has promised.</div> <div> If our faith is counted for righteousness,</div> <div> this is His mercy through Christ;</div> <div> it is nothing upon which we can take our stand</div> <div> in the spirit of claim.</div> <div> To the last, we shall be shortcoming,</div> <div> while to the last we may be loving and faithful.</div> <div> To the last we shall have need to cry-</div> <div> "Be merciful to me, O God.</div> <div> Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions, </div> <div> according to thy mercy remember thou me".</div> <div> Psa. 25:7</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> Seasons of Comfort</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> The problems and sorrows of life are unchangeable.</div> <div> The boasted improvements are all improvements in mere manners and customs.</div> <div> The real remedy is with Christ -</div> <div> and Christ alone,</div> <div> who has become an almost forgotten tradition,</div> <div> but who will shortly burst upon the scene</div> <div> as a potent Reformer of a very radical type.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> When we direct our eyes forward,</div> <div> we see Christ more distinctly than even in the past.</div> <div> We see ourselves on the verge of that great change</div> <div> by which kingdoms of the world are to be abolished,</div> <div> and transferred to a new order of rulers who have been</div> <div> in slow and painful preparation for ages past-</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> When we contemplate the blessings we have accrued to us through Christ,</div> <div> and the hopelessness state outside of him,</div> <div> how completely we are enabled to enter into the joy</div> <div> of Naomi as expressed in this verse.</div> <div> Our daily prayers should ascend into heaven that He hath</div> <div> "not left us this day without a redeemer."</div> <div> We are greatly privileged, greatly blessed,</div> <div> and we need to learn to express our heartfelt thanks</div> <div> in words of appreciation to Him who has made it possible.</div> <div> Naomi's joy took her to the throne of grace;</div> <div> let ours do likewise.</div> <div> Let us express our pleasure, our happiness,</div> <div> in our association with our Lord,</div> <div> And may His name be famous in Israel,</div> <div> as it ultimately will be.</div> <div> H.P Mansfield</div> <div> Ruth Expositor</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Covered with the name of the crucified and risen Christ,</div> <div> we have access to all its glorious privileges, if we draw near with a true heart.</div> <div> We obtain the forgiveness of our sins, and the blessings and guidance of God,</div> <div> as we walk through "time's dark wilderness of years" towards His glorious kingdom.</div> <div> How great the privilege is will only become fully manifest when we have finished our course:</div> <div> when we have done with mortal life; when we stand in the presence of God's unveiled purpose,</div> <div> at the appearing of Christ.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> The Christadelphian 1887</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Identify yourselves with this man who alone of you all has a title to eternal life;</div> <div> Join yourselves to him; give yourselves to him and bow before him, and obey him, </div> <div> and serve him, and all of your past sins shall be blotted out;</div> <div> you shall then have a share in those things that belong to him; not otherwise.  </div> <div> “Come out from amongst them, and ye shall be my sons and daughters.”</div> <div>   Doing this, we have peace with God, </div> <div> because we know He is not angry with those who believe His promises, </div> <div> hope in His Word, and obey His commandments.</div> <div> If we trifle with His Word, or allow other things to have a higher place in our affections,</div> <div> We have no ground for peace;</div> <div> but if we magnify His Word and give ourselves to the contemplation of it,</div> <div> We may indulge in a peace that passeth understanding.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> Ambassador '69 </div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> We much need this weekly reminder of Christ.</div> <div> Increasing experience will show every thoughtful mind</div> <div> the entire wisdom of the appointment by which Christ has made it a matter of duty</div> <div> to break bread each first day of the week. Without it,</div> <div> we should drift into forgetfulness and death.</div> <div> The appointment was founded upon the knowledge of what man is</div> <div>  Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> 1884</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Our part is a light one, compared with his.</div> <div> None of us will be called upon to go through what he endured.</div> <div> All the more ought we to take our little share with courage,</div> <div> and even enthusiasm.</div> <div> We live in a day when we can assemble,</div> <div> under the protection, instead of fear, of human law.</div> <div> We are at liberty to devise, do, and speak as we like for the name of Jesus.</div> <div> All we have to encounter is the contempt, pity, and perhaps avoidance of worldly friends and neighbors.</div> <div> What if we play the coward in the presence of this?</div> <div> What if we shrink from that part of the shame</div> <div> and the cross left for us to bear?</div> <div> What if we weary in the slight labor and waiting that belongs to our age?</div> <div> Shall we be worthy to stand in the day of recompense and glory,</div> <div> with him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, and laid down his life for us?</div> <div> Our own hearts would condemn us.</div> <div> It is a rule of service, and one that reason endorses, that</div> <div> "No man coming after Christ, is fit to be his disciple, unless he take up the cross daily, and follow him..."</div> <div> <I>"Take it up."</I></div> <div> This is something more than waiting until he comes.</div> <div> <I>Brother Robert Roberts</I></div> <div> The Christadelphian 1884</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Letting Christ dwell in our hearts by faith,</div> <div> our darkness is dispelled,</div> <div> our coldness ended,</div> <div> our waywardness corrected, our loves purified,</div> <div> our whole lives cleansed and redeemed </div> <div> from ultimate corrupting and abortiveness of mere natural power.</div> <div> He becomes our light and our life</div> <div> to whom we grow as the thriving plant before the sun,</div> <div> seeking more and more,</div> <div> “to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge,”</div> <div> “counting all things but dung for the excellency of knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord,”</div> <div> “in whom is filled up all the fullness of the God-head bodily.”</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> <I>The Christadelphian 1887</I></div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> How puny a creature was man, and how ephemeral,</div> <div> when we think that those great surging waters were playing</div> <div> and foaming ages ago as they are now,</div> <div> when as yet none of the onlookers had a being.</div> <div> And if the ocean is great,</div> <div> how can we measure He who holdeth the waters</div> <div> in the Hallow of His hand?</div> <div> We can but suffer ourselves to be lost in his greatness,</div> <div> putting forth our feeble trust,</div> <div> striving in some measure to realize His purpose in our little life,</div> <div> in the blessed name which He has given us</div> <div> for reconciliation and salvation.</div> <div> In Christ, we seem to get close to Him.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Human appointments are liable to be founded on false theories, and therefore,</div> <div> will work mischief instead of benefit. It is a false theory that we have "light within;"</div> <div> it is a false theory that we have intrinsic memory of divine things;</div> <div> it is a false theory that knowledge once introduced into the mind  is a permanent fixture there; and any line of action based on these assumptions</div> <div>  is certain to lead away from the path of life.</div> <div> Most men are more or less influenced by a false theory of this sort,</div> <div> and the effect is seen in the neglect of Bible reading, </div> <div> the neglect of meetings, the neglect of "the ordinances"</div> <div> as delivered by Paul at the command of Christ:</div> <div>  and the effect of this neglect is spiritual death.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> We cannot put Christ too high.</div> <div> God hath given him a name above every name, even His own name, the name of God,</div> <div> which shortly cometh from far.</div> <div> He is the Way the Truth, the Life, the Resurrection, the Hope.</div> <div> He is the head;</div> <div> the beginning of the creation of God,</div> <div> the firstborn of every creature, Alpha and Omega, the first and the last,</div> <div> who is, and who was, and is to come, the Lord Almighty.</div> <div> (Rev. 1:8,11,17)</div> <div> His name shall endure forever.</div> <div> The earth shall at the last and for evermore be filled with His glory,</div> <div> when the institutions and the pomp, and the pride,</div> <div> and the theories of men shall for ever have disappeared from below the sun.</div> <div> Let us, then, give good heed to the apostolic warning.</div> <div> If we nurse defective, not to say, degrading, views of the greatness of Christ,</div> <div> we shall be unfitted to participate in the song of renown,</div> <div> or to fill an acceptable place in his service when he comes to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> Seasons of Comfort</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Identify yourselves with this man who alone of you all has a title to eternal life;</div> <div> Join yourselves to him; give yourselves to him and bow before him, and obey him,</div> <div> and serve him, and all of your past sins shall be blotted out; you shall then have a share in those things that belong to him; not otherwise.</div> <div> “Come out from amongst them, and ye shall be my sons and daughters.”</div> <div> Doing this, we have peace with God, because we know He is not angry with those who believe His promises, hope in His Word, and obey His commandments.</div> <div> If we trifle with His Word, or allow other things to have a higher place in our affections,</div> <div> We have no ground for peace;</div> <div> but if we magnify His Word and give ourselves to the contemplation of it,</div> <div> We may indulge in a peace that passeth understanding.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> God says,</div> <div> “My ways are not your ways, they are higher than yours.”</div> <div> Man is unmerciful; God is gracious and full of compassion.</div> <div> This is one of our comforts.</div> <div> If we are failing and shortcoming,</div> <div> we have a God who is slow to anger and ready to pardon.</div> <div> Of course there are conditions.</div> <div> A reasonable man would be eager to conform to the conditions.</div> <div> It would be a terrible anarchy if there were no conditions,</div> <div> yet the conditions are simple.</div> <div> Let a man believe in Christ and obey him,</div> <div> and he will receive forgiveness of sins.</div> <div> Afterwards there will be fightings and overcomings.</div> <div> We must be doers of the Word and not hearers only;</div> <div> “faith without works is dead.”</div> <div> If we do not always come up to the full mark of the attainment in Christ,</div> <div> we have a High Priest.</div> <div> Peter actually denied Christ, but was forgiven because Christ prayed for him,</div> <div> for he knew that Peter loved him.</div> <div> If we love Christ and are bending our strength to the doing of his will,</div> <div> he will ask God to pardon us, and God will pardon whomsoever Christ asks for.</div> <div> It is one of the objects of this breaking of bread to bring this to remembrance,</div> <div> that we may not be overwhelmed by the sense of our shortcomings,</div> <div> and that we may be emboldened to</div> <div> “lift up the hands that hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.”</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> Seasons of Comfort </div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> The saint has every reason to love Christ.</div> <div> He is in all respects beautiful in himself to such as have learnt the first and the great commandment to</div> <div> "Love (and fear) the Lord with all thy soul and mind and strength."</div> <div> Christ is more than kind;</div> <div> He is holy.</div> <div> He is more than forgiving;</div> <div> he is just, and with wickedness, angry.</div> <div> He is more than gentle;</div> <div> he is exacting of supreme affection.</div> <div> He is more than good;</div> <div> he is zealous of the Father</div> <div> He is more than courteous, refined and cultivated;</div> <div> he is the impartial judge according to each man's work,</div> <div> regarding not the persons of men and speaking flattery to none. He is more than man, he is God manifest. The Lamb of God, he is yet the lion of the tribe of Judah.</div> <div> The healing Sun of Righteousness,</div> <div> he is yet the treader of the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.</div> <div> A right acquaintance with him will embrace all the features of his beauty, and will lead to the imitation of each of them in our own characters:</div> <div> for he is the example set us to copy.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Jesus demands to be put first;</div> <div> and when we realize who he is, and what he has called us to,</div> <div> we can see the reasonableness of his demand.</div> <div> He is only exacting of us that which will be for our supreme benefit, though it might not appear so now.</div> <div> Joy unspeakable and full of glory is the latent in all his commandments.</div> <div> In due season we shall reap the rich harvest of obedience, if we faint not.</div> <div> The man who gives Christ second place will realize his position when this puny life is gone;</div> <div> and it will go, however filled up with and impressed with its concerns we may be at the present moment...</div> <div> The man who has lived for Christ has something laid up in store which nothing can touch and no time decay,</div> <div> an inheritance undefiled and that fadeth not away.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> The Ambassador of the Coming Age</div> <div> 1866</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> <B>All hail the coming day!</B></div> <div> Ye have long tarried; break now in glory on our dark horizon, </div> <div> where faith alone, begotten of Yahweh's word,</div> <div>  can see the glimmer of thy coming dawn.</div> <div>  O, we wait with strong desire; give us the first token; </div> <div> send athwart our night the gleaming messenger of thy presence.</div> <div>  Release thy prisoners: justify thy children;</div> <div>  give them to see with their eyes the unbared arm of Omnipotence </div> <div> lifted up to save His chosen, and to smite all the proud and lofty.</div> <div>  O, lift the curtain that shuts them out in the darkness that covers all the earth;</div> <div>  unveil the impending glory; open the temple;</div> <div>  uncover the ark of their covenant with God; </div> <div> scatter the lightnings of Yahweh's anger among the nations;</div> <div>  crash, ye hidden thunders, and destroy them that destroy the earth;</div> <div>  bring to the dust the high refuges of rebellion and lies;</div> <div>  cast down the thrones; slay the Mother of Harlots; bring perdition on the fourth beast;</div> <div> and let all the world know that there is a God that judgeth, and who, </div> <div> though long silent, will not always be still,</div> <div>  but will rise to avenge his own elect, to carry out his own purpose,</div> <div>  and to vindicate his own majesty and honour, against the ignorance, brutishness, </div> <div> perversity and wickedness of a hundred generations.</div> <div>  High and low, rich and poor, need the terrible lesson. </div> <div> They are filled with their own devices. God is not in all their thoughts; </div> <div> they cast the testimony behind their backs, and seek every one gain from his quarter. </div> <div> But now shall they see the glory of Yahweh; for his hand is about to be lifted up.</div> <div>  The end has come; the times of the Gentiles are knelling to a close.</div> <div>  Behold the signs!</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> 1867</div> <bR> <div> <B>~</B></div> <bR> <div> Nothing binds men so firmly together as a mutual and concurring love of Christ;</div> <div> and nothing divides them so effectively </div> <div> as the difference in sentiment with regard to Christ.</div> <div>  Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> The saint has every reason to love Christ.</div> <div> He is in all respects beautiful in himself to such </div> <div> as have learnt the first and the great commandment to</div> <div> "Love (and fear) the Lord with all thy soul and mind and strength."</div> <div> Christ is more than kind;</div> <div> He is holy.</div> <div> He is more than forgiving;</div> <div> he is just, and with wickedness, angry.</div> <div> He is more than gentle;</div> <div> he is exacting of supreme affection.</div> <div> He is more than good;</div> <div> he is zealous of the Father</div> <div> He is more than courteous, refined and cultivated;</div> <div> he is the impartial  judge according to each man's work,</div> <div> regarding not the persons of men and speaking flattery to none.</div> <div> He is more than man,</div> <div> he is God manifest.</div> <div> The Lamb of God,</div> <div> he is yet the lion of the tribe of Judah.</div> <div> The healing Sun of Righteousness,</div> <div> he is yet the treader of the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.</div> <div> A right acquaintance with him will embrace all the features of his beauty, </div> <div> and will lead to the imitation of each of them in our own characters:</div> <div> for he is the example set us to copy. </div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> 1874</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> “ The Love of Christ that Passeth Knowledge .”</div> <div> For one to love a multitude with a love that shall be personal to each individual </div> <div> in the multitude, and that shall glow with equal ardour for all, is certainly a love passing human knowledge. </div> <div> Such a love is an impossibility in fragile human nature.</div> <div>  It requires the strength of the spirit,</div> <div>  compassing all and sustaining its own fire with the inexhaustible fuel</div> <div>  of the divine energy. </div> <div> It is the love that exists in Christ and glows for ever towards his brethren. </div> <div> It is the love of God: God is Love, and Christ is His glory in manifestation.</div> <div>  We see something of His exhaustless beneficence in the manifest design </div> <div> of all things to confer goodness:</div> <div>  but we see these in Christ as they are nowhere else to be seen. </div> <div> They are here brought to a personal focus, and directed towards us in the pledge of unutterable well-being in due time. </div> <div> It is something for us to ponder, to rest on, to be comforted by, to admire.</div> <div>  It is a glorious reality-the most glorious reality in creation-made ours in the gospel.</div> <div>  It is a great possession now, though by faith only: </div> <div> but what shall it be when we stand before the presence of his glory, </div> <div> to receive its healing effulgence in the company </div> <div> of the mustered friends of God of every age,</div> <div>  and in the presence of a countless host of angelic spectators? </div> <div> These things are not “cunningly devised fables,” though so gorgeous.</div> <div>  They are the realities of sober truth,</div> <div>  though hidden from the eyes of man for a necessary reason. </div> <div> They will burst upon our delighted vision by-and-bye.</div> <div>  It is only a question of time, and of a short time at the longest.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <div>  </div> <div> Christ has promised to change the bodies of the faithful in the days of his appearing,</div> <div> <I>but not their minds. </I></div> <div> This is a truth for us to remember. </div> <div> A knowledge of the first principles, attendance at the meetings, </div> <div> and an up-to-date acquaintance with the affairs of our brethren and sisters </div> <div> are far from sufficient to guarantee to us acceptance at the judgment. </div> <div> What we need, and without it we shall find ourselves rejected, </div> <div> is a mind which approximates to that of the Lord Jesus. </div> <div> This mind is brought before us in his teaching and in the example which he set. </div> <div> Christ placed God first in his considerations, his neighbor next, and himself last. </div> <div> He was a diligent student of the Scriptures and a man of prayer. </div> <div> He controlled his actions by the one and looked fro essential help from the other. </div> <div> He was at all times zealous and enthusiastic in the service of the Truth. </div> <div> His themes were the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, </div> <div> the one as the ground of hope and the other as the only way of realizing it. </div> <div> He was very pitiful and generous towards human weakness and honest failings, </div> <div> but severe towards hypocrisy and wickedness. </div> <div> He was modest, humble, pure, earnest and reverent. </div> <div> He never courted applause or distinction and was always calm and serene when abused and ell treated. </div> <div> This is the man whose mind is our standard. </div> <div> To reach it in perfection is impossible, but approximate to it we can.</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Humble service one of another is the characteristic of all who conform to the mind of Christ.</div> <div> It will be found on closest reflection to be the most reasonable </div> <div> and the most beautiful deportment on the part of any human being. </div> <div> A man appears at his best when he is sincerely and unaffectedly humble -</div> <div> the greatness of any gift he may have will only add to the beauty of modesty, </div> <div> and will certainly not detract from the reasonableness of it, for what can a man have that he has not received? </div> <div>  Even the power of perseverance and application by which he may attain results is a gift:</div> <div>  he did not create it.</div> <div>  Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> His commandments are not grievous, as John says, </div> <div> still they are sometimes such that it requires the full uprising of love</div> <div> to make obedience easy.</div> <div> When, for example, he tells us to love our enemies, and do good to them that hate us,</div> <div> he tells us to do something that nothing but our own love of himself can enable us to do.</div> <div> Every natural impulse rises against it. It seems right and satisfactory. </div> <div> It seems right and satisfactory to hate those who oppose us,</div> <div> and to do evil to those that hate.</div> <div> But we look at Christ: we hear him in tones of kindness, yet of command, say,</div> <div> “Do good to them that hate you.” </div> <div> Contemplating him, our natural feelings subside: the hard heart melts: </div> <div> and we can swallow down the old Adam,</div> <div> and really feel and do kindly to those who do otherwise to us.</div> <div> The Christadelphian</div> <div> 1885</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>