Trials of Faith
"I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake."
A spiritual view of our affairs will lead us to entertain a similar sentiment
with regard to those things we may be called upon to endure
through our identification with and our service of the faith.
They are far from agreeable;
if they were agreeable, they would not answer to their purpose,
which is that by the mental exercise induced,
we may become partakers of the Father's holiness.
Pleasure would not exercise us in this direction-
but contrariwise.
Brother Robert Roberts
~
The joy of our deliverance will be in the ratio of our present sense of trouble.
And this deliverance is not far off.
"Though it tarry, wait for it."
This is the spirit's council.
Suddenly, in the midst of our commonplace life,
our ears will be made to tingle with the announcement that our waiting is past-
that our warfare is accomplished - that the Lord is in the earth.
For this, we are being prepared by the evil and delay.
Meanwhile, it is ours to be steadfast.
Brother Robert Roberts
Seasons of Comfort
~
Godliness comes from trouble where
the knowledge of God exists for the trouble to act on.
There is nothing like trouble for clearing the spiritual eye.
There is nothing like trouble for weakening all carnal affinities,
and leading the mind to seek God,
and to rest on His Word, and build on His promises.
Brother Robert Roberts
~
...You are troubled and distressed
by dissensions in the household of faith.
Many of you have been plunged into deep grief, even unto many tears.
"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial."
It is nothing new.
It is the modern form of a very ancient and frequent experience,
resulting from the fermentation of diverse elements
brought together by the knowledge of the Truth.
We must trust God's wisdom in permitting the admixture of these elements.
He has done so from the beginning.
Do not be too much distressed by it.
The results that come of it do not alter things.
They only prove and try and manifest things...
Your fellow-sufferer, fellow-soldier, fellow-pilgrim
and fellow suppliant of the mercy of God unto eternal life.
Brother Robert Roberts
January 1885
~
It is true that trouble is trouble however we may take it.
At the same time, it is robbed of its power to destroy
if we recognize that it is inevitable- that it is appointed-
and further - that it has a purpose to serve.
God can give peace or trouble without showing His hand -
Brother Robert Roberts
~
"Be strong and courageous,
be not afraid nor dismayed for all the multitude...
For there be more with us than with him:
with him is an arm of flesh;
but with us is Yahweh our God to help us,
and to fight our battles".
Hezekiah was conscious of the angelic manipulation of life in all its avenues.
He spake with confidence in the face of distress.
We are told that the people
"rested" on his words.
Let us, by thought, develop in spiritual maturity,
and without presuming to dictate what Yahweh should do in any circumstances,
learn to develop sufficient faith to rest upon His presence.
We will find this a very present help in any time of trouble-
Brother H.P. Mansfield
~
Nothing is more plainly revealed
than that it he that endureth to the end that is to be saved;
that it is they who hold fast the beginning of the confidence
and rejoicing of the hope,
steadfast unto the end,
that are made partakers of Christ;
That the man not keeping in memory the gospel;
not remaining grounded and settled,
but being moved away from the hope of the gospel,
will fail entering into the kingdom of God.
Brother Robert Roberts
~
Evil is permitted that we may be tried.
For how should a man know whether he be holding on to God or man,
unless he were put to the proof?
When the way of the truth is hedged with thorns,
we are exercised with the result of either greater strength
or the snap that takes the fruitless branch from the tree.
In this respect, evil from the hand of the Lord subserves the highest purpose;
and if we could hear the Shepherd's voice, he would say:
"Be of good cheer;"
"Be not overcome with evil;"
"Hold fast that which thou hast; let no man take thy crown."
Brother Robert Roberts
~
Discouragement is the order of the day in spiritual things.
It has ever been so, otherwise for long, 1800 years,
but true men cannot be quenched by any amount of discouragement.
The adversity is a necessity for their proof.
It is a case of doing the will of the Lord and waiting patiently for him.
There will be changes shortly -
to the joy of those whom the Lord approves,
and much otherwise to those who consult merely
the conveniences of the present evil time.
Brother Robert Roberts
1883
~
This is the time of probation.
If we did not recognize this,
the difficulties would be quenching;
but recognizing it, faith and works are unquenchable.
May we shortly rejoice with all true fellow-labourers
in the rest that remaineth-a rest blithesome and glorious.
Brother Robert Roberts
~
To suffer will help you to love.
The children of fortune are rarely children of sympathy.
God has not made a mistake in
appointing tribulation as the road to the Kingdom.
Christadelphian 1897
~
To suffer will help you to love.
The children of fortune are rarely children of sympathy.
God has not made a mistake in
appointing tribulation as the road to the Kingdom.
Christadelphian 1897
~
Though heaven and earth appear to be against us,
let us not falter for a single moment in our confidence in God.
That we are defamed, ill-treated, impoverished, bereaved, or lad low by disease,
is no evidence that God's loving kindness has forsaken us.
Affliction does not exclude divine favor.
This truth is enforced throughout the Word.
Look at the demonstration afforded by the history of the apostle Paul alone.
Neither his faithfulness nor Christ's love for him admit of question.
“I have fought a good fight,” was the apostle's last confession.
And can it be denied?
“In stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft,”
“once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck,
a day and a night have I been in the deep,”
” in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen,
in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness,”
“in perils among false brethren,” “in hunger and thirst,”
“in cold and nakedness,”-“reviled,” “defamed,” “made as the filth of the world,”
“the off scouring of all things.”
With such an experience in view, let us not grow weary
nor “faint in our minds,”
but rather “lift up the hands which hang down,
and the feeble knees.”
Brother A. T. Jannaway
~
The school of trouble
is a hard one, but sweet is the lesson it teaches.
It is a school we should never attend of our own accord.
We all naturally incline to comfort, therefore, we are to be sent among the thorns when needful.
We have to be kept at trouble's school like children at the schools.
This means the skillful, vigorous, though loving, manipulation of our affairs from on high.
Brother Robert Roberts
~
“I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts.”
This searching is adapted to the necessities of each case.
That which is a trial to one is not always a trial to another.
It is no hardship for a man indifferent to wealth to be deprived of it;
nor for one devoid of parental love to lose his offspring.
It requires no great effort for a man with little self-esteem to refrain from walking in pride's silly ways;
nor for one who has large benevolence and small acquisitiveness to dispense alms.
Divine tests call for sacrifices, for endurance, and for resistance.
A saint's first duty is obedience,
and should it entail the loss of things near and dear,
it must be borne with resignation.
Let us not measure our own trials by the experience of others, nor vice versa .
Do not let us trouble ourselves with the apparent freedom from trial of others.
In so doing, we may misjudge.
It is a conceit of human nature to think it knows better than the Deity-
it was so with Job's Satan.
Everyone is put to the proof in the best and most effectual way,
and this way is known only to God.
Brother A. T. Jannaway
The Christadelphian
1887
~
We have had our calling;
we have now our work;
and, by and bye, we shall have our reward:
the nature of the latter, however, as you well know,
is predicated upon a wise use of our waiting time.
There can only be one sentiment, brethren,
as to the character of the inheritance,
viz., that it is an eternal and exceeding weight of glory,
to which the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared.
If this be your mind,
there can only be one individual and united resolve becoming the situation, namely,
that neither death nor life, angels, principalities, nor powers,
things present, nor things to come, height, nor depth, nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which we have in Christ Jesus.
Let us, therefore, so ravish our hearts upon the joy set before us in the gospel,
that if God should see fit to yet try us with tribulation,
distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword,
we may be able to account ourselves more than conquerors,
through our faith in him who loved us.
Brethren, be not dismayed as the heathen, but be ye of good courage,
and forget not that though the flesh is failing, God is the strength of your hearts;
therefore, sanctify your hearts before God, gird up the loins of your mind,
and comfort yourselves continually with the blessed assurance that
“the triumphing of the wicked is short,”
and that while
“weeping may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning.”
Brother Robert Roberts
1876
~
The keenest enjoyments
are those that immediately succeed the greatest sufferings…
If the memory of pain could be perpetuated,
the delightful sensation of relief would be continued also;
but because the pain-memory fades, the pleasure of relief fades also.
There can be little doubt that in the spirit-nature,
the memory of the present evil will be perpetuated,
and thus the joy of salvation be ever fresh and delightful.
It is on this principle that Jesus can after so long a time
be touched with the feeling of our infirmity.
Brother Robert Roberts
1874
~
The heart enlightened in the principles
on which God deals with all whom He chooses,
instead of growing weary under trials, will, like Paul and his brother James,
“count it all joy” to be thus put to the test.
Trial is the order of the house of God; and in our day,
when the sword is taken out of the hand of the magistrate, it is necessary,
if we are to belong to this house, that we be put on a par with our brethren of past ages,
by having trials in a form adapted to our time of freedom and privilege.
A right view of the case will make us welcome these when they come.
Paul said, in view of the meaning of his sufferings:
“I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake.”
A spiritual view of our affairs will lead us to entertain a similar sentiment
with regard to those things we may be called on to endure
through our identification with and our service of the one faith.
They are far from agreeable: if they were agreeable,
they would not answer their purpose, which is,
that by the mental exercise induced,
we may become partakers of the Father's holiness.
Brother Robert Roberts
1874
~
“ Be of good cheer:”
these were the words of Jesus to his friends in the days of his flesh.
Could his voice be audible in our day,
he would say the same to every true heart that is walking through the darkness by the light of the morning star.
He knows where these are, and they themselves know of themselves.
They are mourners as all the fathers were; but they may take comfort.
What though iniquity abound, and the love of many wax cold!
What though brother betray brother! This is nothing new.
It happened to the generation of believers that witnessed the Lord's departure from the earth;
no marvel if the generation that is to see his return should taste a like experience.
“He that endureth to the end shall be saved.”
The truth remains the precious, sweet, and beautiful thing
that it was when breathed from the lips of the Son of Man.
Nothing can change it.
The world has reeked with blood since he spoke the invitation of Eternal Wisdom to the sons of men;
and multitudes with the name of Christ on their lips, have since filled the air with their curses.
But like the sun, through all storms, the word of life has lasted unchanged in its glory;
and divine love, as disclosed in the gospel, is unweakened in its power to bless.
Evil is permitted that we may be tried.
For how should a man know whether he be holding on to God or man, unless he were put to the proof?
When the way of the truth is hedged with thorns,
we are exercised with the result of either greater strength
or the snap that takes the fruitless branch from the tree.
In this respect, evil from the hand of the Lord subserves the highest purpose;
and if we could hear the Shepherd's voice, he would say
“Be of good cheer;”
“Be not overcome of evil;”
“Hold fast that which thou hast: let no man take thy crown.”
Robert Roberts
The Christadelphian
1874
~
The school of trouble
is a hard one, but sweet is the lesson it teaches.
It is a school we should never attend of our own accord.
We all naturally incline to comfort, therefore,
we are to be sent among the thorns when needful.
We have to be kept at trouble's school like children at the schools.
This means the skillful, vigorous, though loving,
manipulation of our affairs from on high.
Brother Robert Roberts
~
What unsatisfactory scholars we sometimes are in the school of affliction-
slow to learn, and slow to remember what we have learned.
When dark clouds of adversity make their appearance,
instead of showing calmness and patience, we too often become irritable or angry -
pout and scowl like children -
and altogether ignore the Divine teaching on the subject,
and the many beautiful examples of wise resignation set out for our comfort and guidance in the lives of Bible worthies...
(Such as) the great trust of Habakkuk (Hab. 3: 17-18);
or the admirable mind of Paul,
who even went so far (through the enlightenment and faith) as to say:
"We glory in tribulations."
In our cool, reflective moments, after trouble,
have we not often been able to say with David:
" It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. "
Ps 119:71
Logos 1960
~
. . .The Kingdom can only be entered through much tribulation-
not through prosperity and peace.
Brother John Thomas
~
Experience is necessary to ripen goodness of character:
and to be a ripening experience, it must be an evil experience.
Prosperity enfeebles: adversity braces up and purifies.
This is a lesson a man almost learns for himself,
but it wants the addition of Divine instruction to see it rightly and clearly.
Brother Robert Roberts
The Ways of Providence
~
Sorrow
is good medicine,
but if taken in excess, it will kill-
not, however, that it is easy to regulate.
It is not a thing that you can take as you like.
If it gets you by the throat, you are practically helpless.
The only thing we can do in extreme cases is to leave it to the
Great Physician, who can ease off the pressure
when we have had enough.
Brother Robert Roberts
~
Distresses and affliction
are a necessary part of the training
which is to fit us for a place in the perfect and abiding society of the future age.
By them, we become wiser and better and richer.
The process is painful, but the end is sweetness.
Brother Robert Roberts
~
Let us not forget that our troubles have a purpose.
They are the fruitful seeds of future glory for Christ's brethren..
They are blessings in disguise.
They are like early processes of the garden, when the soil is broken up and weeded
in order that the fair flowers may at length adorn it. They are the medicine of our convalescence,
the drudgery of our education, without which we can never be really healthy or happy,
fit for the kingdom or qualified to bring forth fruit that will glorify the Lord.
Logos 1975
~
A man or a woman is worth little as a companion, either for wisdom or sympathy, who has not seen trouble. Those believers "living in pleasure are dead while they live." Having a name to live, they are dead; they are not awake to the great dread realities of existence that are in God. If God loves, He will draw them into the furnace someway.
Brother Robert Roberts
~
We cannot avoid a certain amount of anxiety in these times of trouble
and difficulty, but let it be tempered with a full assurance of faith that God has spoken words of comfort to us concerning these very times in which we live. the Prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels, the Epistles, as well as the Apocalypse constantly refer to them, and the burden of their message is surely summed up for us by the Lord in the well-known words, "When these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."
Logos
Oct. 1975
~
If our tribulations are many and heavy...
we must remember that our privileges are correspondingly numerous and great. We are liable to undervalue our privileges, and to exalt our troubles "above measure." A just estimate of our standing in Christ will show us that the sufferings incidental to the present form of service are not to be compared with the "riches of His grace" in whom we stand, and the "eternal weight of glory" to which we are called by the Gospel.
Logos
Oct. 1969
~
Many are the benefits which flow from affliction.
The Scriptures bid us receive it, in view of this fact,
in the spirit of thankfulness and resignation-
"Be patient in tribulation"( Rom. 12:12)
"Count it all joy, when ye fall in divers temptations" (Jas. 1:2)
reckon yourselves "happy" when having to share the sufferings of Christ
(1Peter 4:13,14);
"Rejoice and be exceedingly glad"
when persecuted for Christ's sake (Matt. 7:12)
To reach this mind is a matter of spiritual education.
Only where enlightenment in Bible revelation exists,
and where faith in that revelation is operative,
can the right disposition be exhibited.
Where these conditions are lacking, affliction will be resented and cursed,
and explained (after the manner of the man of the world)
on purely natural principles.
This ailment and that worry will find a cause altogether away from
the working of a kind and all-wise Providence.
The part which God performs will be ignored.
Should, perchance, some good be discerned as the outcome of affliction,
then it will be attributed to "accident" or "luck."
Christ has forewarned us that tribulation will turn some from the way
(Matt. 13:21);
let us therefore take heed. But the right mind can be attained,
and to reach it will be our credit to happiness.
The history of the early disciples shows what is possible in this direction
(Acts 5:41; Heb. 10:34; Rom. 5:3).
The words of Paul are particularly edifying:
"I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake"
(2 Cor. 12:9-10).
Outside of this list not much remains to be mentioned in the way of affliction.
Brother A. T. Jannaway
~
"I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake."
A spiritual view of our affairs will lead us to entertain a similar sentiment
with regard to those things we may be called upon to endure
through our identification with and our service of the faith.
They are far from agreeable;
if they were agreeable, they would not answer to their purpose,
which is that by the mental exercise induced,
we may become partakers of the Father's holiness.
Pleasure would not exercise us in this direction-
but contrariwise.
Brother Robert Roberts
Seasons of Comfort
~
When God asks us to submit to evil, it is not that He delights in the triumph of evil, it is that we may be chastened and proved under His mighty hand. “Wherefore,”
says Peter, “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you in due time.”
Affliction is only for a moment.
Brother Robert Roberts
~
Our principle is that
difficulties which cannot be avoided must be met and overcome.
Brother John Thomas
~
The work of the Truth will be done,
whatever frets of opposition arise among men.
The very frets and oppositions are part of its machinery.
Its great and solid and excellent power will quietly work
among the good and honest-hearted,
not only in spite of,
but partly by the means of the troubles that arise.
"All that the Father hath given to me shall come to me."
Brother Robert Roberts
1893
~
The school of trouble
is a hard one, but sweet is the lesson it teaches.
It is a school we should never attend of our own accord.
We all naturally incline to comfort, therefore,
we are to be sent among the thorns when needful.
We have to be kept at trouble's school like children at the schools.
This means the skillful, vigorous, though loving,
manipulation of our affairs from on high.
Brother Robert Roberts
~
What course then, but one, is wise, and that is;
to hold on amid all delays.
To be patient under all affliction.
Faithful against all unbelief.
Obedient under all trial.
True to Christ under every difficulty,
knowing that the longest probation will come to an end,
the keenest suffering will be forgotten at last,
and that the longest watch, faithfully maintained-
even amidst painfulness and weariness, fastings oft and tribulation-
will dissolve at last into the dewdrops of joyful tears,
when we step from the dismal shades of the night
into the brightness of everlasting day,
in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all the saints.
Brother Robert Roberts
~
“We have not an high priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities;
therefore, let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy,
and find grace to help in time of need ,
or in a time when the enticements and allurements of the world without,
appealing to the desires of the flesh and the mind within,
threaten to prove too strong for us,
and cause the paths of our feet to wander out of the way of understanding and of life.
Yes, 'tis in moments of inward struggle-such as these-
that our High Priest invites the prayer of faith standing ever ready with bended ear and loving eye, to render aid, succor, and strength.
Let not the doubting heart disdain to approach the living fountain,
obey the injunctions laid down; the promise is sure, and the reward certain.
One promise especially is clear and unmistakable in Cor. 10
: “For God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able;
but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it .”
Sister Eusebia Lasius
The Christadelphian 1868
~
We pity sorrow: but sorrow has a mission.
Without sorrow, life would lack its most ennobling and enriching tenderness.
When it has accomplished its work, it will “flee away.”
The Christadelphian
1891
~
Some people are always more or less regretting the dearth of the time in which their lot is cast. They feel like David when he says,
“As the hart panteth for the water brooks, so my soul panteth for thee. My flesh longs in a dry and thirsty land wherein there are no waters.”
This is a natural and legitimate sentiment, but the situation is not purely a misfortune. There is another side to the question.
These evil times bring with them our opportunity. If there were no unthankful people, if we were not placed in relation to evil people,
and if all things around were spiritually prosperous and refreshing, what opportunity should we have of carrying out the commandments of Christ,
which expressly pre-suppose the existence of surrounding evil conditions? If all were sweet and plentiful,
we should be bemoaning ourselves that we had no opportunity of being tried whether we should keep His commandments or not.
I have seen this very sentiment in another form: I have heard brethren and sisters who had a strong wish to do something in the service of Christ.
I have heard them speak as if at a loss what to do. If such would just bethink themselves, they would find that this present evil gives the opportunity they profess to desire;
and would be enabled to make a very good use of the situation. Out of very evil would come good. They would be very much enabled to endure;
for it would fall to them to consider that all the accepted of God have had to live alone as it were. Take Lot in Sodom;
Moses in the unbelieving congregation which fell in the wilderness;
the Lord Jesus who, although surrounded by disciples, was, in one sense, called upon in solitude to endure the contradiction of sinners against himself;
he was not appreciated even by his friends; they could not rise to his great height. They looked merely on the outward aspect of his mission.
The crowds that rushed to see the wonderful works he performed, were attracted by the prospect of temporal benefit. So he poured cold water on their enthusiasm when he said:
“If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”
He had to go on his solitary way, for the joy set before, enduring the cross Take that view, and you will be greatly strengthened.
Remember that all this submission to evil is but probationary. It is not in human nature to accept it as a finality. Without some assurance of the comfort of God,
it would be too much to bear. God does not wish us to bear otherwise than as Jesus bore it, who for the joy set before him, despised the shame.
Therefore we are warranted in looking at the beautiful idea contained in the words of Paul: “Grace be unto you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.”
After which, come those equally beautiful words, “Blessed be God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted by God.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us,
so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.”
Brother Robert Roberts
1872
~
“Do good to them that hate you.”
What we do thus for Christ's sake, we find to be a good thing for its own sake
-good for ourselves, and good for those concerned.
It oils the machinery of the mind.
It protects us from the fevering and ugly effect of resentment.
The man of offended and resentful feelings is hurt as much as the object of them,
and perhaps more. The parched mouth and contracted countenance is only part of the general derangement which such feelings produce.
The man is withered by his anger, whereas the man who puts anger away,
at the bidding of Christ, mantles himself with dignity and peace.
His mind opens beyond himself, and is eased and blessed by the exercise of benevolence.
“The milk of human kindness” is as marrow to the bones.
It fattens and soothes those who feed on it. Resentful men never can know the truth of the maxim, that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Even your enemies are deprived of half their ugliness when you look at them through the medium of the feelings that Jesus commands you to cultivate. Your own character is blessed and ennobled.
The Christadelphian
1885