God Manifestation

<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.htm" 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>God Manifestation </B></div> <bR> <div> It is of the utmost importance</div> <div> to recognize the moral condition and manner of life required in those who hold the truth. </div> <div> It is less difficult to define these than to realize them. </div> <div> They become apparent on a merely superficial consideration of the matter.</div> <div> The mission of the truth is to assimilate us to God in character and nature.</div> <div> It initiates its mission by coming into our minds in the form of propositions apprehended by the intellect.</div> <div> That is to say, the process begins by the gospel believed and obeyed in baptism.</div> <div> By this, we enter the first or preliminary stage of the divine relation.</div> <div> We become sons of God by adoption, but our son ship at this stage is only legal and probationary.</div> <div> Its consummation by physical transformation depends upon results.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> The Christadelphian 1866</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> God alone can set apart and make holy. </div> <div> An act or thing, then, to be made holy to God, must be according to His appointment; </div> <div> and whatever is done according to divine ordination, God does. </div> <div> “The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; </div> <div> for such are the worshippers the Father requires. </div> <div> God is spirit, and they that worship him </div> <div> must worship him in spirit and in truth” ( John 4:23 ). </div> <div> To worship is to honour, and to honour God is to do what He requires. </div> <div> Honour emanating from the will of man </div> <div> is “will worship” and therefore unacceptable to God. </div> <div> Spiritual worship according to truth, is the honour He requires. </div> <div> The worship appointed by the Spirit, through the Apostles, is the spiritual worship; </div> <div> and is composed of certain acts set forth in the Scriptures of Truth.</div> <div> Brother John Thomas</div> <div> <I>The Apostolic Advocate</I></div> <div> July, 1836.</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> What a man <I>says</I> indicates what he admires: </div> <div> what he <I>does</I> indicates what he is. </div> <div> Godliness joins the two in a beautiful blend.</div> <div> The Christadelphian</div> <div> 1888</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> "What have you <I>done</I>?"</div> <div> and not</div> <div> "What have you <I>professed</I>?"</div> <div> will determine the acceptance of the saints.</div> <div> If their doings are resolvable into mere words that cost nothing</div> <div> but a feeble effort to pronounce them,</div> <div> they can have no part in the Kingdom of God and Age to Come.</div> <div> Thus saith the Lord;</div> <div> therefore let no man be beguiled by vain deceit.</div> <div> Brother John Thomas</div> <div> Herald of the Kingdom and Age To Come</div> <div> 1851</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> There is no power in heaven or earth equal to kindness. </div> <div> It is at the root even of God's anger.</div> <div> It will prevail at last to the “utmost bound of the everlasting hills.”</div> <div> The Christadelphian</div> <div> 1894</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> If we are not charitable in the true sense, </div> <div> we may come every Sunday to the table, </div> <div> and attend every meeting that is held for the truth's sake,</div> <div>  and yet Christ will come and say </div> <div> “I know you not; depart from me, ye workers of iniquity.”</div> <div>  We, therefore, must measure our calling and position by the standard of the word, </div> <div> and not by the unreliable opinion of mortal man, brother or no brother. </div> <div> Charity out of a pure heart is the very object of the gospel. </div> <div> The gospel is but the means appointed for the purification for Christ of a peculiar people, zealous of good works.</div> <div>  How lamentable is the spectacle, therefore, of persons holding the truth,</div> <div>  and yet uninfluenced by it in their conduct.</div> <div>  Beware, lest we hold the truth of God in unrighteousness.</div> <div>  Better we had never known it than such be the case.</div> <div>  Purity of heart must be the source of rectitude of conduct. </div> <div> The fruits of the spirit cannot emanate from carnal-minded, unkind people.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> The Christadelphian</div> <div> 1869</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> If you <I>must</I> have enemies,</div> <div> make sure that they are enemies because of the good that is in you </div> <div> and not the evil.</div> <div> The Christadelphian</div> <div> 1883</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div>  It has been well said that he who knows himself best esteems himself least.</div> <div> But the reason of this is not always defined. </div> <div> Self-knowledge is largely an affair of comparison.</div> <div> A man whose eyes are open to the surrounding greatness realizes his individual smallness. </div> <div> This is why men of God are humble in their own eyes. </div> <div> They discern the greatness, the perfection, the innate power and wisdom of God, and therefore,</div> <div> feel how small and ineffectual is man. Self-estimation is a sign of a narrow horizon.</div> <div> The Christadelphian 1888</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Novels</div> <div>  spoil people for actual life,</div> <div>  because actual life does not work out in the connected method of a story.</div> <div>  It has no plot and no romance.</div> <div>  It is furtive and disjointed, </div> <div> and needs the principles of truth and kindness to make it of any tolerable interest.</div> <div>  Novels, which are manufactured dreams,</div> <div>  do not give you this.</div> <div> The Christadelphian 1894</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> There can be no joy without the fear of God,</div> <div> the love of man, and the answer of a good conscience. </div> <div> Happiness is the outflow</div> <div>  of all the faculties in harmonious play. </div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> 1870</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> We <I>must</I> be filled with wisdom -the wisdom which is from above-</div> <div> the wisdom that comes from and relates to God; </div> <div> for the absence of it ensures our repudiation of Him in the day</div> <div>  when he makes up His jewels.</div> <div>  And to secure this wisdom, we must apply ourselves continually to its acquisition;</div> <div>  for the acquisition thereof is difficult and a work of time.</div> <div>  Like the precious things of nature, God has made wisdom a hidden thing,</div> <div>  requiring search, and which the hand of the diligent only at last obtains. </div> <div> There is, therefore, no time for the occupations of folly. </div> <div> True saints recognize the necessity for working out their own salvation.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> 1876</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Regardless how <I>"lawful</I>" a thing may be for us,</div> <div> if it is not a necessity but just a matter of our pleasure and desire,</div> <div> and we know it will distress our brethren and sisters, </div> <div> and weaken the ecclesia, and perhaps divide it;</div> <div> and if we ignore the tears and pleadings of those who implore us</div> <div> to put the love of God and the peace and welfare if the ecclesia ahead of our own selfishness,</div> <div> and if we still go ahead with our willful course, </div> <div> then we have committed a serious sin before God.</div> <div> We have brazenly declared </div> <div> that we neither have nor understand the beautiful, self sacrificing spirit of Christ,</div> <div> and that we are, therefore are none of his.</div> <div> Brother Gilbert V Growcott</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Contempt </div> <div> is a symptom of ungodliness.</div> <div>  It is in great vogue in the world, and ought to be unknown in the house of God. </div> <div> To disapprove and avoid is often a necessity, but to show contempt,</div> <div>  silently or otherwise is to act with malice, </div> <div> and malice belongs not to those who have learnt to abase themselves, </div> <div> and to compassionate the most defective of men as the helpless subjects of evil.</div> <div> The Christadelphian</div> <div>    1888</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> “Men were not ushered into being for the purpose of being saved or lost!</div> <div> God manifestation, not human salvation, was the great purpose of the Eternal Spirit. </div> <div> The salvation of a multitude is incidental to the manifestation, but was not the end proposed. </div> <div> The Eternal Spirit intended to enthrone Himself on the earth, and in so doing, </div> <div> to develop a Divine family from among men, every one of whom shall be Spirit, </div> <div> because born of the Spirit, and that this family shall be large enough to fill the earth, when perfected, </div> <div> to the entire exclusion of flesh and blood (1 Cor. 15:28 )”.</div> <div> Brother John Thomas</div> <div>  Herald of the Kingdom And Age to Come</div> <div> 1858, pp. 84-85</div> <div>  </div> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div>  Many people do right so long as there is no detriment from that course; </div> <div> but the moment it works against their interests, they do not scruple to do a little wrong - </div> <div> and sometimes even a great wrong. This is fatal to spiritual prospects.</div> <div> “Unless your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, </div> <div> ye shall in nowise enter into the kingdom of God.”</div> <div> “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”</div> <div> “Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.”</div> <div> Therefore let us all observe this exhortation carefully.</div> <div> If we neglect it, we are in danger of losing ourselves,</div> <div> and preventing the salvation of others. </div> <div> <I>Our actions tend to scare away people from the truth, </I></div> <div> <I>if they see them mixed up with unrighteousness. </I></div> <div> We ought to be scrupulously honorable-men and women of good faith,</div> <div> whose word is sacred;</div> <div> who consider a promise binding, even if fulfillment is detrimental.</div> <div> That is what David says a man of God is-</div> <div> one who swears to his own hurt and changeth not.</div> <div> In all our dealings let us remember this.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> 1869  </div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> In proportion as we love Christ, we shall feel oppressed by his absence,</div> <div>  and be constantly actuated by the desire for preparation in view of his return. </div> <div> What, then, should be our attitude towards those who would persuade us</div> <div>  that the things connected with him are but as a myth? </div> <div> Reason can have but one answer, </div> <div> and wise men will avoid both the poison and those who seek to administer it. </div> <div> “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly . . .</div> <div>  but his delight is in the law of the Lord.”</div> <div> The Christadelphian</div> <div> 1903</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> At present they (the saints) have to show the Truth</div> <div> in every way that will make the Truth shine;</div> <div> that it may stand out in the foreground of the picture</div> <div> so distinctly from all surroundings that</div> <div> observers at a glance may distinguish it in all its outlines without</div> <div> any possibility of confounding it</div> <div> with the dark cloud of things beyond.</div> <div> This is the work for us to do,</div> <div> that men seeing the photograph of Christ</div> <div> written upon their minds by his testimony, which is light,</div> <div> may confess that it is a true, faithful, and beautiful picture,</div> <div> and embracing it with affectionate hearts</div> <div> may so put it into their bosom</div> <div> and become married, or rather betrothed, unto the Lord.</div> <div> In this way an enlightened and affectionate and valiant</div> <div> people will be prepared for him,</div> <div> who will not only be watching for him,</div> <div> but with garments kept, and lamps well trimmed</div> <div> with the golden oil of the good olive tree,</div> <div> be ready to enter in</div> <div> on the closing of the door against all the world.</div> <div> From a letter written to Brother Roberts by brother Thomas - 1865</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> The Christadelphian mind</div> <div> that is constantly centered around</div> <div> the "wisdom from above" is certain to in,</div> <div> actions, life and character -</div> <div> exhibit symptoms of that which has been learnt.</div> <div> Logos vol.1</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> The character we are required to form</div> <div> That we may realize the</div> <div> "One hope of our calling"</div> <div> Must be inspirited by the Truth.</div> <div> That is, the Law of the Lord must dwell in us,</div> <div> With the courageous determination to obey it,</div> <div> Or live in all conformity to it,</div> <div> And to contend earnestly for it.</div> <div> At all hazards,</div> <div> God must be in all our thoughts,</div> <div> And our actions must be shaped with a view</div> <div> To His approbation alone.</div> <div> Brother John Thomas</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> God created the brain-</div> <div> to be the thinking substance of the body.</div> <div> It is governed by that which either</div> <div> illuminates or stimulates it...</div> <div> Logos 1993</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Character, not Opinions</div> <div> "...the interval between believing the Gospel </div> <div> and being baptized, and our departure hence, </div> <div> must be occupied in forming our characters after the model of Jesus; </div> <div> `who is the exact representation of the character of God,' </div> <div> and therefore, the very best after which we can aspire. </div> <div> Character and not opinions will be the test </div> <div> of our admission into the Kingdom of God;</div> <div>  let us form, then, such a character</div> <div>  as we have delineated in the Lamb's Book of Life</div> <div> -the New testament; </div> <div> and be assured, whether our names be repudiated by our contemporaries,</div> <div>  or ourselves persecuted to the deprivation of the means of subsistence, </div> <div> we shall be invested with incorruptible life,</div> <div>  and crowned with glory and honor in the future age."</div> <div> Brother John Thomas</div> <div>  The Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come</div> <div> 1860, p. 43</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> It is to be feared</div> <div> that we allow ourselves to be influenced by the strongly secular spirit of the age,</div> <div> and our Christianity to be diluted with prevailing worldliness.</div> <div> Let us fear!</div> <div> For neither the worldly-minded nor the lukewarm shall inherit the kingdom of God.</div> <div> Let us guard against faint-heartedness.</div> <div> Let us strive to make our Christianity honest,</div> <div> straight-forward, and unblushing.</div> <div> We are apt to be overridden by the external circumstances of the time.</div> <div> Let it be otherwise.</div> <div> Let our characters be known in our circles;</div> <div> let our light shine in the surrounding darkness;</div> <div> and so may we glorify our Father in heaven and receive His approval at last.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Neither Christ or His brethren have any of that "beauty" which the vulgar eye admires,</div> <div> not any of that external glory which ambition courts;</div> <div> and we look forward to the time when man's renovated taste</div> <div>  will recognize what true beauty is,</div> <div> for the regenerated heart will see that it is not looks, nor outward appearance,</div> <div> but thoughts, desires and deeds, that are beautiful in the sight of God.</div> <div> It is moral beauty that is real beauty.</div> <div> External and material beauty is only a transient type,</div> <div> and evanescent shadow of that which is real and enduring forever,</div> <div> therefore to us, Christ will even in His humiliation is altogether lovely,</div> <div> and our All in All.  True beauty is all from within and not from without,</div> <div> for under a very fine form there may lurk a very bad heart.</div> <div> It is the inner work that is beautiful.</div> <div> It is the light, radiance and warmth of the inner man</div> <div> shining from the countenance that constitutes true beauty.</div> <div> May the Lord grant us the beauty of holiness and the adorning of a meek and quiet spirit.</div> <div> Sister Alice Hopkins</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> We can only hope to get our minds under the influence of the truth,</div> <div> by steeping our minds in it,</div> <div> and this is only to be done by the laying it down for ourselves as a rule</div> <div> to read it continually, day by day.</div> <div> If we do that, then we shall get at the result;</div> <div> the mind will become steeped because we steep it.</div> <div> When you get hold of a man who thus steeps his mind in divine things,</div> <div> what a luxury beyond expression!</div> <div> You then experience what it is to love in the truth.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> God has given us examples of the man that is godly.</div> <div> There are many of them in the Scriptures.</div> <div> If we desire to be in this category, let us study them and conform to them.</div> <div> …There is Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David,</div> <div> and last and greatest of all, the Lord Jesus.</div> <div> These are all “ men that are godly” after the divine pattern;</div> <div> and there is no other true pattern.</div> <div> What is their leading characteristic?</div> <div> Is it not this- their concern for the will of God?</div> <div> Their recognition of God, their love of God, their zeal for him?</div> <div> Abel pleased God by his faithful rendering of what was required.</div> <div> Cain brought the fruits of the field.</div> <div> We cannot please God by our own contrivances.</div> <div> We must do as He appoints.</div> <div> In this matter, we must heed well the admonition-</div> <div> <I>“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.”</I></div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> The difference between a man of good conscience</div> <div> and the man of indifferent conscience,</div> <div> is that the former does right, sunshine or rain, pleasure or pain;</div> <div> while the latter does right when it happens to be agreeable,</div> <div> and swerves to the wrong if the right interferes with his interests.</div> <div> The accepted will be the former class alone.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> The Christadelphian 1869 p. 367</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Charity out of the pure heart is the very object of the gospel.</div> <div> The gospel is but the means appointed for the purification for Christ of a peculiar people,</div> <div> zealous of good works.</div> <div> How lamentable is the spectacle, therefore, of persons holding the truth,</div> <div> and yet uninfluenced by it in their conduct.</div> <div> Beware, lest we hold the truth of God in unrighteousness.</div> <div> Better had we not known it than such be the case.</div> <div> Purity of heart must be the source of rectitude of conduct.</div> <div> The fruits of the spirit cannot emanate from carnal minded, unkind people.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> The Christadelphian</div> <div> 1869 p. 366</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Neither Christ or His brethren have any of that "beauty"</div> <div> which the vulgar eye admires,</div> <div> not any of that external glory which ambition courts;</div> <div> and we look forward to the time when man's renovated taste will recognize what true beauty is,</div> <div> for the regenerated heart will see that it is not looks,</div> <div> nor outward appearance,</div> <div> but thoughts, desires and deeds, that are beautiful in the sight of God.</div> <div> It is moral beauty that is real beauty.</div> <div> External and material beauty is only a transient type,</div> <div> and evanescent shadow of that which is real and enduring forever,</div> <div> therefore to us, Christ will even in His humiliation is altogether lovely,</div> <div> and our All in All.</div> <div> True beauty is all from within and not from without,</div> <div> for under a very fine form there may lurk a very bad heart.</div> <div> It is the inner work that is beautiful.</div> <div> It is the light, radiance and warmth of the inner man</div> <div> shining from the countenance that constitutes true beauty.</div> <div> May the Lord grant us the beauty of holiness and the adorning of a meek and quiet spirit.</div> <div> But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible,</div> <div> even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.</div> <div> 1 Pet 3:4</div> <div> Sister Alice Hopkins</div> <div> Lessons from nature</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> The character we are required to form,</div> <div> that we may realize the "one hope of our calling,"</div> <div> must be inspirited by the Truth; that is,</div> <div> the law of the Lord must dwell in us, with the courageous determination to obey it,</div> <div> or live in conformity to it, and to contend earnestly for it, at all hazards.</div> <div> God must be in all our thoughts;</div> <div> and our actions must be shaped with a view to His approbation</div> <div> Brother John Thomas</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> A man who is under the control of the Word</div> <div> gets quickly over little disturbances;</div> <div> they are quite transient and accidental, and soon go off;</div> <div> but if the mind is not under control of the Word, it is the other way.</div> <div> The serenity is accidental; </div> <div> the malignity and unhappiness of the fleshly mind is chronic.</div> <div> True liberty and happiness that will not grow old</div> <div> are only to be found in connection with the things that are of God.</div> <div> They are a well spring of everlasting life,</div> <div> from which we are invited now to drink deeply.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> The Christadelphian 1868</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> A man must fear God and realize his own</div> <div> Insignificance and dependence.</div> <div> He must feel hungry before he will desire to feed on the Word</div> <div> in this unremitting manner.</div> <div> He must be discontented with himself and the things as they are.</div> <div> His affections must be operative on heavenly,</div> <div> and not on earthy things.</div> <div> He must, in fact, have made considerable attainments</div> <div> in the kind of spiritual education which is implied</div> <div> in saintship.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> It is not that which a person knows that is of value;</div> <div> nor is it a question of that which they may give tacit acknowledgement.</div> <div> It is what they truly and faithfully believe.</div> <div> *</div> <div> True belief results in a firm conviction,</div> <div> which will be confessed with the mouth -</div> <div> will be taught clearly and without compromise -</div> <div> will be upheld and defended.</div> <div> Brother John Ullman</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> "Only those are able to say what is error</div> <div> who know what is the truth,</div> <div> and those only know what the truth is</div> <div> who understand what is noted in the Scriptures of Truth.</div> <div> the truth consists of God's spoken thoughts:</div> <div> these are positive and everlasting.</div> <div> Brother F.R. Shuttleworth</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> What a refreshing thing to see</div> <div> men and women under the power and fear of God.</div> <div> We need not fear men;</div> <div> we need not fear what brother this or brother that may say,</div> <div> because in a short time in the order of Nature,</div> <div> all men will be in their graves,</div> <div> and there will be no reality in relation to us then except -</div> <div> God,</div> <div> His mind,</div> <div> His purpose,</div> <div> and His judgment.</div> <div> Therefore we need not vex ourselves,</div> <div> or encumber our spiritual operations with anxieties</div> <div> about opinions of our fellows</div> <div> -let us be right with Christ.</div> <div> To be right with him requires that we be in earnest -</div> <div> And all the time earnest-</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> "Let this mind be in you which was in the Lord Jesus"</div> <div> counseled Paul in:</div> <div> Phil 2:5</div> <div> This mind is brought before us in his</div> <div> teaching and example:</div> <div> He placed God first in his considerations, his neighbors next, and himself last.</div> <div> He was a diligent student of the Scriptures which he permitted to mold his life - and he was a man of prayer.</div> <div> He controlled his actions by the one - and looked for essential help from the other.</div> <div> He was at all times zealous and enthusiastic in the service of the Truth.</div> <div> He was at all times very pitiful and generous towards human weakness and honest failings,</div> <div> -but ruthless in his demands upon himself.</div> <div> He was modest, humble, pure, earnest, and reverent.</div> <div> He never courted applause or distinction</div> <div> -and in the face of trial, sought the peace of God.</div> <div> He was no inanimate signpost, merely pointing the way,</div> <div> but an Example who exhibited it in action-</div> <div> He provides the standard set us-</div> <div> and though to reach it in perfection is beyond us we can, at least, approximate to it.</div> <div> To do so will ensure a place for us in the Kingdom he will set up at his return.Now is our day of opportunity-</div> <div> the time to "make our calling and election sure".</div> <div> Tomorrow may be too late, for Christ is at the door-</div> <div> Brother H.P. Mansfield</div> <div> 1983</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> What we have to do is to confirm and build ourselves up</div> <div> in the resolution of this most holy faith,</div> <div>  and to renew the war against the things that would obstruct our way </div> <div> to the Kingdom of God.</div> <div>  Turn away your eyes from beholding vanity.</div> <div>  It was David's prayer to God that he might be enabled to do this.</div> <div>  It is what, therefore, it is our wisdom to do. </div> <div> Cultivate not acquaintance with the things that would take your heart from God. </div> <div> Avoid the books-decline the pleasures-abstain from the occupations-</div> <div> go far from the men that would draw you into sympathy with the present evil world.</div> <div>  Let your search be in opposite directions. </div> <div> Open the door of your heart to the things that God has given for our purification and salvation.</div> <div> <B> He has given you a book; </B></div> <div> <I>make it your own in daily reading.</I></div> <div> <B> He has written a history of His work on earth so far.</B></div> <div> <I> Honor Him by mastering it, and keeping it in your memory.</I></div> <div> <B> He has biographed His friends-the men in whom He is well pleased; </B></div> <div> <I>furnish your inner man with their portraits and their lives.</I></div> <div>  <B>He has disclosed the surpassing glory of His Son, </B></div> <div> <B>to whom He commands the submission of every human heart and tongue; </B></div> <div> <I>fill your heart with it and bend before it, whatever others do.</I></div> <div> <B> He has, at great length, indicated and unfolded the principles of His action, </B></div> <div> <B>the maxims of His wisdom, the things among men which give Him pleasure;</B></div> <div> <I> do Him the honor and yourself the advantage </I></div> <div> <I>of opening your mind without stint to these.</I></div> <div> <I><B>You know how to do it.</B></I></div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> The Christadelphian 1884</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div>  A man cannot estimate his life properly</div> <div> without looking before and behind. </div> <div>  Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> 1886</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> The Child of God</div> <div> He has acquired a new mode of thinking; </div> <div> for he thinks in harmony with the thoughts of God …</div> <div> He is convinced of sin;</div> <div> and experiences an aversion to the things in which he formerly delighted. </div> <div> His views, disposition, temper, and affections are transformed … </div> <div> He is <I>constitutionally</I> “in Christ”.</div> <div> Brother John Thomas  </div> <div> <I>Elpis Israel</I></div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> The Truth demands warmth -</div> <div> even to the degree of zeal that will eat us up,</div> <div> and where it is realized in its own truthfulness and grandeur,</div> <div> it will engender this state of mind in relation to itself;</div> <div> for all men are warmly interested in that which intimately affects themselves when they understand and believe it.</div> <div> It is only when men dimly perceive or weakly believe the truth that they are dull and indifferent about it.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Men were not ushered into being for the purpose of being saved or lost.</div> <div> God-manifestation, not human salvation was the grand purpose of the Eternal Spirit.</div> <div> The salvation of a multitude is incidental to the manifestation,</div> <div> but it was not the end proposed.</div> <div> Brother John Thomas</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div>  It is to be feared that we allow ourselves to be influenced</div> <div> by the strongly secular spirit of the age, </div> <div> and our Christianity to be diluted with prevailing worldliness. </div> <div> Let us fear! </div> <div> For neither the worldy-minded nor the lukewarm shall inherit the kingdom of God.</div> <div>   Let us guard against faint-heartedness. </div> <div> Let us strive to make our Christianity honest, straightforward, and unblushing. </div> <div> We are apt to be over-ridden by the external circumstances of the time. </div> <div> Let it be otherwise.</div> <div> Let our characters be known in our circles; let our light shine in the surrounding darkness;</div> <div> and so may we glorify our Father in heaven and received His approval at last.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> White Raiment, </div> <div> or a state of acceptance before God by righteousness, </div> <div> is only to be attained by allowing the word of Christ so to operate continually</div> <div> on the inner man that we become like-minded with Himself,</div> <div> and obtain the forgiveness of all our sins, </div> <div> and become energized to the performance of righteousness as by a second nature, </div> <div> even the new man renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.</div> <div>  Brother Robert Roberts</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Spiritual transformation <I>MUST </I>be the biggest, </div> <div> most pressing matter in the forefront of our attention all our lives, if we hope for life.  </div> <div> Eternal life is well within the reach of any who are </div> <div> WILLING TO PUT FORTH THE REQUIRED LIFELONG EFFORT - </div> <div> to make it their foremost and constant concern.  </div> <div> Anything less is belittling God and His great promise of love.</div> <div>   God earnestly SEEKS men that He may save them. </div> <div> Victory is promised, yea, it is guaranteed "to him that overcometh."  </div> <div> Overcometh WHAT? Clearly it is himself, his own flesh, his own lusts, </div> <div> his own natural thoughts and emotions and desires and reactions.</div> <div>   We have got to completely change our basic nature from conflict and antagonisms to love and gentleness.</div> <div>   This transformation of character is the "overcoming" that is required by God. </div> <div> It is a constant struggle. </div> <div> In many ways the problem becomes more deceptive</div> <div>  as we advance in accomplishment in the Truth. </div> <div> Knowledge puffeth up.  </div> <div> Achievement creates self confidence (when in reality all good is of God). </div> <div> We can never relax,</div> <div> assuming we HAVE overcome, and the struggle is safely behind us. </div> <div> Greater, more searching tests are always, in the wisdom of God, likely to lie ahead -</div> <div>    "Every branch that beareth fruit, he PURGETH it,</div> <div> that it may bring forth MORE fruit" (Jn 15:2)</div> <div> Brother Gilbert Growcott</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div>  Men were not ushered into being for the purpose of being saved or lost. </div> <div> God-manifestation, not human salvation,</div> <div> was the grand purpose of the Eternal Spirit. </div> <div> The salvation of a multitude is incidental to the manifestation,</div> <div> but it was not the end proposed.</div> <div> The Eternal Spirit intended to enthrone himself on the earth, and, in so doing, </div> <div> to develop a Divine Family from among men, every one of whom shall be spirit because born of the Spirit, </div> <div> and that this family shall be large enough to fill the earth, when perfected, </div> <div> to the entire exclusion of flesh and blood.</div> <div> Brother John Thomas</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> There is nothing like the education of the truth for developing all parts of our nature into harmony, and putting us into a true relation to the hand of God in creation.</div> <div> It lifts the superior brain into its true position as the supreme director of the whole man, </div> <div> and helps to restore somewhat of the Elohistic dignity,</div> <div>  which primarily belongs to the human species.</div> <div> Brother Robert Roberts</div> <div> 1866</div> <bR> <div> <B>~</B></div> <bR> <div> We may talk and reason, we may reprove and expostulate, </div> <div> we may praise and blame, </div> <div> but, after all, it is our own character, our own example,</div> <div> the moral atmosphere in which we dwell,</div> <div>  that will act upon others with tenfold force.</div> <div> The Christadelphian</div> <div> 1892</div> <bR> <div> <B>~</B></div> <bR> <div> When the mental disposition, called "the heart", is renewed, </div> <div> it becomes a mirror, as it were, </div> <div> in which one skilled in the Word of the kingdom, </div> <div> can discern the spirit, or behold the reflection of the Divine Nature.</div> <div>  The image of God in a man's character </div> <div> can be <I>only</I> created by the Word of Truth of the gospel of the kingdom.</div> <div> Brother John Thomas </div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> <div> Love is a very powerful principle.</div> <div>  Its manifestations are irrepressible and unmistakable.</div> <div>  When a man loves God, the fact will be very visible in his actions. </div> <div> He will ever be found identified with whatever involves the service or praise of God.</div> <div> Putting it practically,</div> <div>  his presence will be noted where God is honored in immersion, </div> <div> confessed in the proclamation of the truth, </div> <div> or served in the assembly of his people on whatever occasion.</div> <div>  A man's love of Christ will show itself in unfailing attendance </div> <div> 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, </div> <div> will be swallowed up in the realization of “things hoped for;” </div> <div> but love will reign for ever</div> <div> -the mighty pabulum on which the harmony between all created things</div> <div>  and their Eternal source, will be established.</div> <div> Robert Roberts</div> <div> 1866</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="09601010.png" border=0 width="1" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">~</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="09601010.png" border=0 width="1" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">     The development of the noble character that the truth forms</div> <div> is the best way of living to the glory of God, </div> <div> because it is a living illustration of the beautiful results aimed at by Him in the devising of a perfect law,</div> <div> and leads to the recognition of the infinite wisdom and love of the Father of all.</div> <bR> <div> ~</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>