The Christadelphian, May 1940

“Death of Brother C. C. Walker”

The death of brother C. C. Walker, for forty years Editor of this magazine, has caused sorrow throughout the Brotherhood. For him, however, it has meant the laying down of a life which in the last few months had become wearisome through suffering, in the glorious hope of receiving life for evermore when his Master returns. He fell asleep on Friday, April 5.

Charles Curwen Walker was born on Feb. 18, 1856, in Norfolk, the son of a landed proprietor; and he had family associations with Cumberland and Shropshire. Spending his earliest years in country life, as a boy of 13 he made with his father the adventurous voyage to Australia by sailing ship. As a young man he became a surveyor in the gold-fields, work which well suited his ordered and mathematical mind and his instinct for the open air.

He had become interested in prophecy, and first learnt of the Truth while on a visit to England in 1880–81 in connection with the sale of some property. He stayed in London with two young lady relatives, the Misses Ellen and Edith Sutcliffe, who had been befriended by his father. They were inquiring into Christadelphian belief, and shortly afterwards he witnessed their receiving into fellowship at Keighley. One of these ladies afterwards became sister Walker.

Brother Walker often used to say that on going to Birmingham to a gunsmith’s, he remarked to his father, “Who would live in a place like this!” He little imagined—as he used to put it—that Birmingham would be for him the scene of “forty years’ journeying in the wilderness”.

On the return voyage he read and re-read bro. Roberts’ Twelve Lectures, and checked every passage cited. On Sept. 10, 1881, at Melbourne, he put on the name of Christ in baptism. Within a few years he had decided to sacrifice his congenial career as a surveyor, and, having some private income, to give his whole service to the work of the Truth in whatever capacity he could. To this end he set out for Birmingham in 1887, arriving in September of that year. His account of his voyage, accompanied by sister Walker and her sister, sister Sutcliffe, appears in the December issue of The Christadelphian for 1887. With the enlargement of the magazine in the following year, bro. Walker undertook the section, “The Jews and their Affairs”, and his association with it and with bro. Roberts became increasingly close. Early in 1889 bro. Walker found himself entrusted with bringing out the magazine while bro. Roberts was called away to New York, and at the same time carrying out—in miserable winter conditions—the removal from office premises in Edmund Street to Moor Street. About this time he joined the staff of the magazine permanently, through circumstances to which he alluded in a paragraph in his Appendix to bro. Roberts’ autobiography:

All these pleasant proposals evaporated by reason of “The Sugar Disaster”, and the present writer found himself a servant of bro. Roberts, to the great humiliation of all flesh concerned, though by no means to the detriment of the work of the Truth, or of either party. The present writer had come over from Australia in 1887 simply and solely with the desire of getting into closer touch with the work of the Truth, and entirely against every other desire and interest. And this rough hammer-blow riveted him into it at a stroke.

John Thomas, M.D., born 1805; died 1871. Launched Apostolic Advocate in 1834; also edited Herald of the Future Age (1845). Author of “Elpis Israel” (1849), “Eureka”, “Exposition of Daniel”, etc.

Bro. Walker brought out the magazine during bro. Roberts’ voyages to Australia; and on Sept. 24, 1898, he had the shock of receiving the telegram from San Francisco: “Roberts died suddenly. Cable disposition remains”. Bro. Walker went to the United States, and on Oct. 9 conducted the interment of the body in Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, beside that of Dr. John Thomas.

Circumstances had compelled a further removal of the office, and bro. Walker had transferred the business temporarily to what was then and for many years after his own home, 21, Hendon Road, Sparkhill. To this he makes the following reference in the Appendix to the autobiography:

Bro. Roberts and I were in strong and hopeless disagreement about a certain business detail concerning transfer of premises. He “would not be persuaded”, and I, feeling that right and reason were on my side, was equally loth to give way. Suddenly he said, “Oh, brother Walker! Let’s draw lots”. In a moment we did so, and “the lot caused contentions to cease, and parted between the mighty” (!)—Prov. 18:18. The lot came out in my favour, and, in view of subsequent developments, I am fully persuaded that in this matter also “the will of the Lord was done”.

Robert Roberts, born 1831; died 1898. Edited Ambassador of the Coming Age (founded 1864), changed in 1869 to The Christadelphian. Wrote “Twelve Lectures” in 1862 (later expanded into “Christendom Astray”); also author of “Ways of Providence”, “Visible Hand of God”, “Nazareth Revisited”, “Law of Moses”, etc.

What was to have been temporary accommodation has been the home of The Christadelphian till the present day.

In the magazine of December, 1898, bro. Walker wrote:

It may be that we shall presently secure central premises, unless the Lord’s appearance preclude the idea. “Here we have no continuing city”. We feel pretty much as we suppose Israel felt on the brink of the Red Sea, but we shall endeavour not to repeat the mistake of their unbelief. Poor despised “Brummagem”, with its precious jewels among the shams! “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” “Come and see”. We came and saw a good while ago, and found “a good thing”; and now, after some chastening with a rod that hurt also the innocent hands that were made to wield it, we have been fixed in the modern Nazareth without power to remove out of it if we desired, which we don’t. What can we conclude but that such a development, entirely apart from human design, and humiliating to flesh and blood at that, is “of the Lord”; who giveth “to every man according to his several ability”, and enjoins all to “occupy till I come”. Thus concluding, and determining to “occupy” faithfully for the few days that may remain, we bespeak the co-operation of fellow servants who may similarly discern “the time of their visitation”, in the hope that the Master of the House may shortly find us not altogether unworthy of higher and better things.

His conduct of the magazine proved longer than he hoped and more arduous than he feared. It fell to him many times to steer a course through difficult and troubled waters; he carried out his task with integrity of spirit and with dignity. In July, 1914—on the verge of the Great War which was to change the face of the world at large, and to prove a severe testing time in many ways within the Household—the magazine completed fifty years of publication; and bro. Walker, in reproducing the manifesto from the first issue by bro. Roberts, commented:

The utterances reproduced “ring true”; and we believe that this magazine has honestly striven to uphold the divine ideal. This is all our ambition and all our desire in such “few and evil” days as may remain. The verdict upon all lies with the Lord.

C. C. Walker in 1901, then aged 45. Born 1856; became Editor of The Christadelphian in 1898; died April 5, 1940. Author of “Ministry of the Prophets: Isaiah”, and “Jeremiah”, “Word of God”, “Theophany, ” etc.

“Many of us”, wrote bro. Walker in a leading article of the same date, “cannot possibly have fifty years more waiting, and none of us know that we shall have any more. ‘Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation’. Let us faithfully serve in the fleeting present, knowing for certain that ‘our labour is not in vain in the Lord’”.

Those who knew him can testify how clearly those utterances reflect the man who made them.

Twenty years on, when bro. Walker’s editorship had already equalled in length bro. Roberts’ thirty-five years, he announced that bro. John Carter had consented to join him in the work with a view to taking his place when that should become necessary. In June, 1934, bro. Walker wrote:

Dr. Thomas was born in 1805, launched The Apostolic Advocate in 1834, and died in 1871. Robert Roberts was born in 1831, launched The Ambassador (now The Christadelphian) in 1864, and died in 1898. C. C. Walker was born in 1856, succeeded to The Christadelphian in 1898, and is now in his 79th year, just one hundred years after the foundation of The Apostolic Advocate. So that three frail human lives have in this manner spanned this century of witnessing to revived Bible Truth.

Bro. Walker had become proprietor as well as editor of The Christadelphian, and of the associated publishing enterprise, sis. Roberts, who died in 1919 at a great age, having left to him the literary residue of her husband’s estate. Not the least of the great services which bro. Walker rendered to the Brotherhood was to establish the undertaking on a sound business footing—a work which was only accomplished by years of unsparing toil. In this, as in so many other ways, his life was sacrificed to the service of the Master to a degree which only those with intimate knowledge can appreciate.

C. A. Ladson, born 1871, in Australia; settled in England in 1904; married the daughter of Robert Roberts in 1906; shortly after joined the staff of The Christadelphian, and continued until his death in 1939. Contributed the feature “Jews and Zionism” for 35 years.

Plans which were ventilated at the time bro. Carter came were carried into effect three years later. In August, 1937, bro. Walker announced that he had handed over the enterprise to an association of nine brethren, formed under the title of “The Christadelphian Magazine and Publishing Association, Ltd.” He retired from the active editorship, but remained closely associated with the magazine in an advisory capacity and as a contributor, and as chairman of the Association.

Bro. Walker brought to his work intellectual gifts, great industry, and the exact and painstaking mind of a student. Under his restrained and self-effacing exterior there was an unflagging zeal, and a stern will to maintain faithfully those things in which he surely believed. From the misunderstandings and misrepresentations which seem, in the present order of things, almost inevitably to gather round those who fulfil such work as his, he suffered far more keenly than he would have admitted. His innate tenderness was shown in his fondness for animals; and those who came in close contact with him enjoyed his hearty laugh and an almost boyish sense of humour.

The bookshelves of lovers of the Truth bear witness to bro. Walker’s labours. He completed the work which bro. Roberts had begun, “The Ministry of the Prophets: Isaiah”; and many years afterwards added “Jeremiah”. He worked up from bro. Roberts’ notes a book on “The Old Testament Doctrine of Eternal Life”. Other substantial works include “Theophany: the Bible Doctrine of the Manifestation of God upon earth”; “The Word of God”; and “Notes on the Apocalypse”. His many pamphlets on first principles are closely reasoned expositions, packed with good matter. The pamphlet, Christ and War, has been of immense service to the Brotherhood in the troublous times of the last forty years. Longer pamphlets, such as Prophecy and the East and Thoughts on Inspiration (a reply to Dr. Armitage Robinson) have also filled a valuable place in our literature.

Bro. Walker entered with all the zest so characteristic of him into the production of the revised Hymn Book which appeared in 1932; it led to unhappy controversy and much suffering for him, physical as well as mental, beclouding his closing years. However judgment may have varied as to the way in which the book was introduced to the brotherhood, the spiritual value of bro. Walker’s work in this field, reflecting his own lifetime’s growth, is likely to be more fully realised—if the Lord remain away—as the years go on. The controversy revealed a distressing lack of appreciation of some deeper aspects of the truth among those who claimed most to be its defenders, and marked a decline from the standards of Dr. Thomas and bro. Roberts, who as far back as the sixties had defended the use of the very phrases for which bro. Walker was most condemned. While this is no time nor place for reviving controversy, in fairness to bro. Walker’s good name it must be made clear that he was still maintaining his life-time’s work in upholding the faith as it was revived a hundred years ago.

With typical enthusiasm, at 80 or more years of age he took up again the study of Esperanto, following an inquiry for literature in that language. He proved once more an apt student, and produced a translation of The Declaration, which was published last year. It proved to be his last service to the faith to which he had devoted nearly sixty years of his life.

A much-travelled man, he had a fund of interesting experiences: and how his face would light up with recollection as he told them! Three of his voyages to and from Australia were made by sailing vessel; and in one he was in danger of shipwreck in a storm off the Horn. Three times he visited Palestine; and before the first occasion, in 1901, he used his skill as a surveyor to go over the whole route with the ordnance map beforehand, so that when he arrived the ground seemed already familiar. This and a visit in 1914 were made in company with the late bro. F. G. Jannaway, who on the latter occasion joined with bro. Walker in what was then the venturesome journey by horseback to Petra. A blizzard on the mountains of Edom, in which bro. Walker was almost overcome by cold; nights spent sleeping in the rock-cut temples of the “Rose-red city”; and a rocky ride up Mount Hor, notorious for its bandits, were among their experiences. His last visit was made largely for reasons of health in 1923, when he was able to see the change wrought in the Land under British administration. In 1927 he paid an extended visit to the United States.

With sis. Walker, now ninety years of age, and with the members of the family, deep sympathy will be felt by brethren and sisters everywhere.

The Sunday Morning Meeting

Sunday morning’s meeting on April 7 of the Central Ecclesia at the Midland Institute will long remain in memory. Bro. E. J. Newman, who presided, had chosen as hymns—

No. 61:

Father Supreme, whose wondrous love

Our utmost thought so far exceeds;

No. 82:

The Lord my Shepherd is, I shall be well supplied;

While He is mine, I His, what can I want beside?;

and, as an apt ending, a favourite of bro.

Walker’s, No. 98: “Fierce was the billow wild”, which has the closing verse:

Jesus, Deliverer,

Near to us be;

Soothe Thou our voyaging

Over life’s sea:

Then, when the storm of death

Roars, sweeping by,

Say Thou, O Lord of Life,

“Peace! It is I”.

Brother G. T. Fryer gave the address, recalling that bro. Walker had been in the Truth for fifty-eight years, and over fifty of them were spent in Birmingham. “We have few members left who have been in the Truth for a longer period”, he said; “possibly there are one or two present this morning who can remember the ecclesia when bro. C. C. Walker was not a member, but their ranks are thinning fast. For over half a century he has been active in the Lord’s service in Birmingham. For forty years he was our leader, and under God’s providence the brotherhood in general and this ecclesia in particular has much to thank him for. We could speak of bro. Walker’s faithful following of Dr. Thomas and bro. Roberts who ‘built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets’; we could make mention of his valiant combats for the Truth; of the writings he has left behind; of the Hymn Book which he compiled; of the arrangements which he has made to continue the work of the Lord; but here to-day we shall think of bro. C. C. Walker as one of ourselves, a member of this ecclesia. How we shall miss his courtliness, the quiet dignity of his presence, the resonance of his voice as he expounded the Scriptures, his impressive reading of the Word of God, and his deep reverence as he led us in prayer. In all these things bro. C. C. Walker was an example of how we ‘ought to behave ourselves in the house of God’.

“Now the familiar voice is silenced, the controversies are hushed, the armour has been laid aside, the battle is over, and saddened though we are, we give God thanks for the life and work of a great and kind gentleman, but more than that, a true brother of Christ and a faithful son of God.

“When bro. Walker came to Birmingham in 1887 this was what appeared in The Christadelphian at the time:—

Bro. and sis. C. C. Walker, and their relative, sis. Sutcliffe, have duly arrived in Birmingham from Australia. They purpose taking up their abode in Birmingham, so that they become permanent and very welcome additions to the ecclesia. Bro. Walker’s childlike-minded (yet capable) and ardent appreciation of the Truth is refreshing to every earnest mind. He comes to Birmingham with the avowed purpose of placing himself at the service of the Truth.

“These words (bro. Fryer continued) were prophetic, and time has shown how faithfully he stuck to his purpose of placing himself at the service of the Truth. Bro. Walker made the greatest choice; he trusted in God, and throughout all the difficulties of his long career he remained faithful to the Divine calling. Now when he is dismissed to his rest, his hope is not lost, for he died in hope of a glorious resurrection and will ‘stand in his lot at the end of the days’.

“Those who have sat under him the longest will no doubt be first to tell us how quickly the time has gone. For fifty years past, first in the Temperance Hall and later in this Hall, bro. C. C. Walker has faithfully proclaimed the Truth; and now our association with him has ceased, and that chapter has closed. He was sent here under the controlling hand of God, and whether we have helped or whether we have hindered in our contact with him, cannot now be altered. The record of the Truth’s activities under bro. Walker’s guidance is sealed and awaits the verdict of the Lord”.

After the final prayer, bro. Harold Williams played on the organ the Dead March in “Saul”, while the meeting remained standing.

The Funeral

Six hundred or more brethren and sisters gathered in the Midland Institute on Tuesday morning, April 9, for a meeting which preceded the burial in Robin Hood Cemetery. They came not only from the Birmingham Central Ecclesia, but from many other meetings in Birmingham and the Midlands, while personal friends of bro. Walker’s had journeyed from widely separated parts of the country. Of the Arranging Brethren of the Birmingham Central Ecclesia and the Trustees of the Christadelphian Magazine and Publishing Association, Ltd., all were present save a few unavoidably prevented. Many brethren in the assembly must have obtained leave from their employment to come.

Bro. John Carter conducted the meeting, which opened with hymn 48:

God is love: His mercy brightens

All the path in which we rove.

Brother E. W. Newman offered prayer. After reading a portion of 1 Cor. 15, bro. Carter gave an address in which he quoted the words of 1 Pet. 4:10: “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever”

Bro. C. C. Walker, he said, was a man of many gifts—widely travelled, of considerable linguistic attainments, and of wide knowledge. But his greatest gift was his power to use all other gifts as a steward of the grace of God. A noble man, innately courteous, naturally dignified, he was nevertheless a humble disciple of the Lord. As successor to two remarkable men, Dr. John Thomas and bro. Robert Roberts, he maintained with voice and pen the Truth as it had been rediscovered about a hundred years ago. His fine, sonorous voice had been heard regularly in the old Temperance Hall and in that building. He was a man of strong conviction and strong faith. His faith was in Christ raised from the dead; in the fact that when the women went early to the sepulchre they found the stone rolled away, the grave empty. The body had revived. Why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead? Jesus could say, “I am the resurrection and the life”; and at the very time that he was speaking of his coming suffering and death, he could say of the truth concerning himself, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the grave shall not prevail against it”.

Anthem, 25, “Behold, I show you a mystery”, was sung before the closing prayer by bro. Benjamin Walker.

Buses conveyed those who wished to go from the Midland Institute to the cemetery, and the gathering here was almost as large as at the memorial meeting. Six brethren who bore the coffin to the graveside were chosen to represent as many phases as possible of ecclesial activity. They were brethren G. P. Coleman, J. Fletcher (Arranging Brethren), E. J. Newman (presiding), Howard Cork (registrar), Norman Godber (Young Men’s Bible Class secretary) and L. G. Sargent (representing the office of The Christadelphian).

A brief committal ceremony opened with hymn 184,

“There is a calm for saints who weep”, which was sung at the graveside of bro. Roberts in Brooklyn Cemetery. Bro. Carter read further verses from the chapter in 1 Cor., and spoke a few words on the hope in which bro. Walker had fallen asleep. Prayer was offered by bro. Islip Collyer (Kenilworth).

Standing in the quiet assurance of faith in resurrection, the company of the Household gathered as mourners heard a lark soaring full-throated overhead; and other birds sang in the trees. Their chorus on that spring noon recalled things not only more lovely but more lasting than the way of the aggressor, who by a strange coincidence had that very day overrun Denmark and landed in Norway. Bro. Walker, who had so long and earnestly watched the signs of the times, had waited through the curious silences of the first six months of war; and now, with his burial which seemed to many the end of an epoch for the Household, came a new and startling development in the outpouring of the Seventh Vial, which might have unimaginable consequences.

Devices dark and monstrous were that day being carried out: yet beyond and over them all, pure as the bird-notes He created, is the purpose of God which says:

Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.