Saturday, June 22, 2024

Robert Roberts on the Importance of the Writings of John Thomas


 

To the charge of holding “that the knowledge of Scripture, in the writings of Dr. Thomas, has reached a finality,” we plead guilty. If we were ignorant or unfamiliar with the Scriptures, or were like those who, when they attempt to write or speak, have to look at them through the telescope of dictionaries, concordances, and such like, we should not have ground sufficient to entertain this conviction; but our acquaintance with them in daily intercourse for twenty-one years, enables us to be confident on the point. Our reading has not been confined fined to the Scriptures, or to the writings of Dr. Thomas. We have read what others have to say. We have, therefore, all the materials to form a judgment; and our judgment is distinctly to the effect imputed—that, in the writings of Dr. Thomas, the truth is developed as a finality, and that they are a depot of the Christian doctrine. In this sense we are “committed to Dr. Thomas.” Dr. Thomas has been laid aside in the grave for a season; and so long as God permits life and health, we shall defend the mighty results of his labours against all ridicule and opposition from friend or foe. Were he in the land of the living some who are in hostility would be in a different attitude towards him. When he re-appears, they will be ashamed. Meanwhile, God, who used him in the doing of His work, lives to note the gap made by his death, and the results which were not unforeseen to Him. In His sight, and with His help, we shall hold fast to the truth brought to light by his means; and, please God, will rejoice with him at the near-impending realisation of all the hopes of the saints, in the day when the bitterness of present warfare will only add sweetness to the hour of triumph. We shall try and endure the odium which calls this a dictatorial spirit. The clear perception, strong choice, and resolute defence of that which is true and good is not the offspring of dictation; nevertheless, if enemies or friends choose to consider it so, we must heed them not. It is this spirit that enables a man to say at last, “I have fought a good fight: I have kept the faith.” It is not a question of pulling up the tares, which no man can do. It is a question of not being partakers of other men’s sins, and of washing our hands of all complicity in the practical treachery to the truth which would preach it as an uncertain thing, and defile it by admixture with the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees. (Robert Roberts, The Christadelphian 11, no. 123 [September 1874], 408-9, emphasis added)

 

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