The Christadelphian, September 1978, Fred Pearce

“Understanding the Christadelphian Community”

The Significance of Robert Roberts

September 23, 1978 is the 80th anniversary of the death of Robert Roberts. The fact is likely to make little impact on the minds of many today; yet it is essential in these dangerous days, if we are to form a right judgement of our community, to know something of how it was founded and by what work it grew. Among the aids we can call upon for this Brother Islip Collyer’s Robert Roberts: A Study of Life and Character is of great value to the ordinary reader.

As a young man Brother Collyer was personally acquainted with Robert Roberts. He has drawn upon his own recollections and those of others, and making a thorough examination of R.R.’s writings of more than 30 years, he has produced a readable, even fascinating, account of his “life and character”. R.R. stands before us, not as a conventional figure, but as a man convinced of the truth of Scripture and of its teaching, as he strove in all his strengths and weaknesses, his joys and sorrows, to proclaim the Word and to upbuild those who had believed.

An Astonishing Beginning

The story has an astonishing beginning. The young Roberts, living in Aberdeen, borrows from an elder sister a copy of Dr. Thomas’ “Herald of the Kingdom”, is immediately fascinated and gets more copies, then reads Elpis Israel and is baptized in 1853 at the age of 14! He then spends the next two years in an intense study of the Bible, and devises for his own use that plan for reading it regularly which later became the basis of The Bible Companion. And at the age of 17 he is writing to Dr. Thomas a letter which is published in “The Herald”.

He moves to Edinburgh, thence to Huddersfield, always active and becoming already well-known among the small communities of believers. At the age of 20 he marries Jane Norrie, who is to prove a faithful support for nearly 40 years. They walk together every Sunday from Huddersfield to Halifax, the nearest meeting. Soon R.R. is giving addresses in Huddersfield and writing Twelve Lectures, the basis of Christendom Astray. The work is read by Dr. Thomas, who at once forms the opinion that here is the man to carry on his work in England. The Doctor stays with R.R. in Huddersfield in 1862 and advises him that Birmingham is the best centre for the work and that he should start a magazine there. This to a young man of 23! So in 1864 “The Ambassador” appears.

Then for over 30 years, without relief, writing and travelling, addressing meetings and discussing, and still more writing. The first Town Hall meeting in Birmingham in 1866 arises from R.R.’s attempt to address the overflow to a Catholic meeting there. He is almost knocked off his improvised platform—a chair—and has to be safely escorted by two policemen into a temperance hotel opposite and thence out by the back door! But the counter meeting organised by the brethren is attended by over 2000 people.

Dr. Thomas visits England again in 1869 and makes R.R. his executor and custodian of all his affairs and advises the young leader to change the name of his magazine to The Christadelphian. So the foundation of the Christadelphian Office is laid. The news of Dr. Thomas’ death in 1871 is a shattering blow to the young community in England, and especially to Robert Roberts who has assumed his role there. He travels to New York for the funeral and then visits 30 towns in America and Canada, thus becoming known in the community there.

A Period of Intense Activity

Then the period of intense activity from 1871 to 1898: up and down the country, lecturing, exhorting, advising, defending the Truth; debates, with the atheist Bradlaugh (three nights in Leicester and three nights in Birmingham—what a drain on his energies); troubles in the Brotherhood leading to division—here Brother Collyer treats with sympathy both Robert Roberts and those who sincerely opposed him; journeys abroad, to the U.S.A. frequently, then in 1895 to Australia, all involving long travel and innumerable meetings. Finally his sudden death in San Francisco on September 23, 1898. He was barely 60 years of age.

This bare account can give but a faint impression of R.R.’s immense labour in maintaining The Christadelphian for over 30 years, writing exposition and exhortation, and constantly dealing with difficulties, ecclesial and personal. Out of these magazine contributions arose the substance of The Ecclesial Guide of 1883, with its immense contributions to our practical understanding (see review, Christadelphian, Oct. 1974). And out of these writings there arose a number of books, concerning which Brother Collyer singles out The Ways of Providence as easily understandable and valuable reading for all.

But above all the author conveys a vivid impression of Robert Roberts as a man: his devotion to the Bible, his zeal in proclaiming the Truth and defending it against attacks; his kindness to individuals; his weaknesses (he was unwise in some financial undertakings with the best of intentions) and his strengths; his sufferings—three children are lost at the ages of a few months, 2 and 4 years and the grief of the parents can be imagined; so that Brother Collyer can write, “Sorrow, struggle and physical disabilities played an important part in the moulding of his character.”

Robert Roberts’ Bible still exists: dated 1872, its pages are dark with endless turning, its verses are underlined from constant study, and its battered leather case is eloquent of the ceaseless journeying it must have undergone. If only it could speak, what tales it would tell of long hours in cold trains, of voyages across the seas, and of earnest discussions and conversation. Brother Collyer’s book does a great deal to recreate all this for us. It is a work everyone should read.

Fred Pearce