Robert Roberts (Christadelphian) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Robert Roberts is the man generally considered to have continued the work of organising and establishing the Christadelphian movement founded by Dr. John Thomas

John Thomas (Christadelphian)

Dr. John Thomas was the founder of the Christadelphian movement, a Restorationist religion with doctrines similar in part to some 16th century Antitrinitarian Rationalist Socinians and the 16th century Swiss-German pacifist Anabaptists.-Early life:John Thomas M.D., born in Hoxton Square, Hackney,...

. He was a prolific author and the editor of The Christadelphian

The Christadelphian

The Christadelphian is a Bible magazine published monthly by The Christadelphian Magazine and Publishing Association . It states that it is 'A magazine dedicated wholly to the hope of Israel' and, according to the magazine website, it 'reflects the teachings, beliefs and activities of the...

Magazine from 1864–1898.

Early life

Robert Roberts, born in Link Street, Aberdeen, Scotland, was the son of a captain of a small coasting vessel. His grandmother on his father’s side was of the Clan MacBeth. His mother was a strongly religious Calvinistic Baptist, schoolteacher, and daughter of a London merchant. Though his family were of lowly circumstances, he was raised in a well disciplined, and strictly religious environment. Leaving school at the age of 11, he worked a short while as clerk in a rope factory, then serving in a grocers shop, and thirdly as a sort of apprentice to a lithographer

Lithography

Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...

. At 13 he became an apprentice to a druggist, also taking lessons in Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

, and learning Pitman's Shorthand

Pitman Shorthand

Pitman shorthand is a system of shorthand for the English language developed by Englishman Sir Isaac Pitman , who first presented it in 1837. Like most systems of shorthand, it is a phonetic system; the symbols do not represent letters, but rather sounds, and words are, for the most part, written...

. He formally and briefly, became a member of his mother's church when aged 12. Shortly afterward he came across a copy of a magazine, belonging to his sister, entitled the Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, by John Thomas

John Thomas (Christadelphian)

. Robert Roberts then began his Bible studies in earnest. After reading Thomas’ book Elpis Israel

Elpis Israel

Elpis Israel - An Exposition of the Kingdom of God is a theological book written by John Thomas, founder of the Christadelphians, in 1848-1849 and published in 1849.The book was based on a series of lectures given by Thomas in 1848 and is written in three parts, The...

, with Bible in hand, he became convinced of its soundness, and ceased attending chapel with his family. He was baptised in 1853 aged 14 as part of the "Baptised Believers" (this was 11 years before the name 'Christadelphian' was coined by John Thomas; he was re-baptized in 1863 "on attaining to an understanding of the things concerning the name of Jesus, of which he was ignorant at his first immersion").

He developed a reading plan to facilitate his daily systematic reading of the Scriptures. A form of this plan was later published as The Bible Companion

Bible Companion

The Bible Companion is a guide developed by the Christadelphians to aid reading the Bible. It was first produced by Robert Roberts when he was just 14 years of age, in about 1853, and revised by him over a number of years into its current format.-Background:Christadelphians believe that reading...

and is still used by many Christadelphians today. He married Jane Norrie in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

on April 8, 1859. They had 6 children, only three of whom survived into adulthood.

Shorthand writer and reporter

When Robert Roberts was 17 he became shorthand writer for a modest paper, The Aberdeen Daily Telegraph, after which he worked as a casual reporter, once being called on to assist in reporting the speeches delivered at an investigation into the merits of the Suez Canal

Suez Canal

The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...

scheme, conducted by Aberdeen Town Council on the occasion of a visit by Ferdinand de Lesseps

Ferdinand de Lesseps

Ferdinand Marie, Vicomte de Lesseps, GCSI was the French developer of the Suez Canal, which joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas in 1869, and substantially reduced sailing distances and times between the West and the East.He attempted to repeat this success with an effort to build a sea-level...

. He left Aberdeen for Edinburgh to work as a reporter on The Caledonian Mercury. Leaving Edinburgh 1858, he worked for The Examiner in Huddersfield, then briefly for the same employer in Dewsbury. Then he accepted a travelling assignment as shorthand writer for the American phrenologists

Phrenology

Phrenology is a pseudoscience primarily focused on measurements of the human skull, based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or modules...

, Orson Squire Fowler

Orson Squire Fowler

Orson Squire Fowler was a phrenologist who popularized the octagon house in the middle of the nineteenth century....

and Samuel R. Wells, who were visiting Huddersfield as part of a lecturing tour (Roberts later described phrenology

Phrenology

as of similarly high value to his religious beliefs). He returned to his job on the Huddersfield Examiner in July, 1861. During his time at The Examiner he was also appointed as the Huddersfield correspondent for The Leeds Mercury, The Halifax Courier, and The Manchester Examiner. In the winter of 1863-64 Robert Roberts moved to Birmingham, but failed in his attempt to set up a general reporting and advertising agency there. In 1864 he became a reporter for The Birmingham Daily Post, largely as a result of a testimonial from John Bright MP

John Bright

John Bright , Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with Richard Cobden in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League. He was one of the greatest orators of his generation, and a strong critic of British foreign policy...

. In July 1865, he became a shorthand writer for the Birmingham Bankruptcy Court, working there until 1870, when a change in the Bankruptcy Act of 1869 brought an end to his appointment. Then, at the suggestion of Thomas, it was arranged that he should receive a salary for his Editorship of The Christadelphian

The Christadelphian

Magazine, and so his career as a reporter came to an end.

Association with John Thomas

It was 1856 when Robert Roberts first wrote to John Thomas in America. In 1858 he tried, but failed, to raise funds for travelling expenses to invite Thomas to visit England again; receiving a reply concerning his efforts through the pages of The Herald of The Kingdom. During the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

Thomas had to suspend publication of The Herald of The Kingdom magazine. Thus on Oct. 8, 1861 Robert Roberts wrote to Thomas urging him to visit, which he did in 1862. Shorthand notes taken by Roberts during this visit formed the basis of Roberts' book Dr John Thomas: his life and work (published two years after Thomas' death in 1873). Some time after this visit, due in part to misunderstandings and misinformation, there was a short breach of friendly relations between the two men; this was resolved in October 1864. Subsequently they enthusiastically supported each other’s work. Roberts collected subscriptions and organised the distribution of John Thomas’ exposition of the Book of Revelation

Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...

, Eureka (3 vols. 1861, 1866, 1868), in England, and (in time) many of his other works. Roberts raised the money to fund what would be the last trip of Thomas to England in May 1869. Toward the end of this trip, March 1870, Thomas made Roberts custodian of all his affairs in the event of his death, which occurred sooner than anticipated in 1871. Roberts died in 1898, and was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery

Green-Wood Cemetery

Green-Wood Cemetery was founded in 1838 as a rural cemetery in Brooklyn, Kings County , New York. It was granted National Historic Landmark status in 2006 by the U.S. Department of the Interior.-History:...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, beside the grave of Thomas.

Preaching

Even in his early days Roberts endeavoured to organise preaching events wherever he went. His first serious attempt was in 1860, when he delivered a course of 8 public lectures in Senior’s School Room, East Parade, Huddersfield

Huddersfield

Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....

. The Huddersfield meeting then took on Spring Street Academy, (a former Campbellite

Campbellite

Campbellite refers to any of the religious groups historically descended from the Restoration Movement, a religious reform movement in the early 19th century in the United States...

meeting place) for Sunday meetings including public lectures. Some Sunday afternoons he would also give out-of-door addresses, either in St. George’s Square or the Market Place, Huddersfield. It was at Spring Street, in the winter of 1861, that Robert Roberts delivered a series of twelve Lectures on successive Sunday afternoons, systematically setting out Christadelphian beliefs.

In 1864 after moving to Birmingham, he organised a lecture at Birmingham Town Hall

Birmingham Town Hall

Birmingham Town Hall is a Grade I listed concert and meeting venue in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England. It was created as a home for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival established in 1784, the purpose of which was to raise funds for the General Hospital, after St Philip's Church became...

, in reply to an Irvingite preacher who had spoken there previously. Between 1,500 to 1,800 people attended. Eventually in 1866 he leased the Athenaeum Chambers, 71 Temple Row, Birmingham, staying there until December 1871 when the meeting moved to the Temperance hall, 8 Temple Street, Birmingham. Although based in Birmingham, he travelled widely around the country, preaching and supporting the growing Christadelphian movement.

Roberts used all the means at his disposal to preach what he believed to be the truth, and in 1877 he sent a copies of his pamphlet Prophecy and the Eastern Question to all the members of the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

and the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

, receiving the following reply from Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...

: “DUNSTER, January 24th, 1877. Sir, Allow me to thank you for your tract, which I shall read with great interest; for I have been struck with the apparent ground for belief that the state of the East may be treated of in that field where you have been labouring Your faithful servant, W.E.Gladstone.”

In 1895 he embarked (through pressure of circumstances) upon a voyage to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. He travelled via the Suez canal, touching at Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

and Colombo

Colombo

Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...

to Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

. He visited many towns and cities, in Australia and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, preaching everywhere he went. He then travelled back via the Fiji Islands, the Honolulu (then still known as the Sandwich Islands), Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

and America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

arriving back in Birmingham in 1896. In 1897 he returned to Australia with his family, they settled in Coburg, a northern suburb of Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, in “Orient House”. In 1897-1898 he went on a short preaching tour in Australia, before embarking on a yet another preaching tour to New Zealand with is wife.

He was in the midst of yet more travelling and preaching when he died of heart failure in San Francisco on September 1898 aged 59. He was succeeded as editor of The Christadelphian

The Christadelphian

Magazine by Charles Curwen Walker

Charles Curwen Walker

Charles Curwen Walker was a Christadelphian writer and editor of The Christadelphian Magazine from 1898 to 1937.-Life:C. C. Walker was born near Diss, Depwade Rural District, Norfolk on February 18, 1856, son of a landowner. His middle name "Curwen" indicates his descent from the aristocratic...

Writer and editor

Robert Roberts, as early as 1858, attempted to start a manuscript magazine - just a single copy sent from friend to friend through the post. It did not get beyond the 4th or 5th number. In 1862 John Thomas, having suspended publication of the Herald of the Kingdom, advised Roberts to start a magazine. It is at this point that Robert's re-baptism (mentioned above) occurred, midway between the first edition of 12 lectures (1861), and preceding in July 1864 commencment of the publication of The Ambassador of the Coming Age. Thomas, out of concern that someone else might start a publication and call it The Christadelphian, urged Robert Roberts to change the name of his magazine to The Christadelphian
The Christadelphian
The Christadelphian is a Bible magazine published monthly by The Christadelphian Magazine and Publishing Association . It states that it is 'A magazine dedicated wholly to the hope of Israel' and, according to the magazine website, it 'reflects the teachings, beliefs and activities of the...

, which he did in 1869. His editorship of the magazine continued with some assistance until his death in 1898.

Roberts wrote and published numerous articles, pamphlets and books. A series of 12 lectures, given in Huddersfield in 1861, formed the basis of his first book. Each lecture was published sequentially at fortnightly intervals, in penny numbers. The second edition (Feb.1862), entitled Twelve Lectures, was stitched together in one volume. Expanded to 18 lectures, the book was republished by Robert Roberts in 1884, as Christendom Astray From the Bible
Christendom Astray from the Bible
Christendom Astray From the Bible is a polemic work by the Christadelphian Robert Roberts that claims to demonstrate that the main doctrines shared by most Christian denominations are at variance with the teachings of the Bible...

. From its first publication as 12 lectures, Christendom Astray was acknowledged by Christadelphians as a standard work putting forth their beliefs; it has now been in print for almost 146 years in several editions. In 1867, from the manuscript of R.C. Bingley of Chicago, he published The Declaration, a standard work used for many years.

He was involved in many public religious debates (a feature of the age in which he lived) with those of differing opinions, often publishing the substance of the debate in book or pamphlet form;

Was Jesus of Nazareth The Messiah? 1871. Transcript of debate with Louis Stern of the Anti-Jewish Conversionist Society, Birmingham. This debate marks the beginnings of mutually respectful relations with Birmingham's Jewish community, which continued in the 1880s when Roberts called on the Christadelphian community to support Laurence Oliphant's appeal for funds for the Rosh Pinna
Rosh Pinna
Rosh Pinna is a town of approximately 2,500 people located in the Upper Galilee on the eastern slopes of Mount Kna'anin, the Northern District of Israel. The town was founded in 1882 by thirty immigrant families from Romania, making it one of the oldest Zionist settlements in Israel...

settlement at Al-Ja'una
Al-Ja'una
Al-Ja'una or Ja'ouna , was a Palestinian village situated in Galilee on the slopes of Mount Canaan near al-Houleh Plateau, overlooking the Jordan Valley. The village lay on a beautiful hill side 450–500 meters above sea level, 5 kilometers east of Safad near a major road connecting Safad with...

in Galilee.
In 1872 Roberts published the book Man Mortal as a reply to the book “Life and Immortality” (1871) by Frederick William Grant of the Plymouth Brethren
Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren is a conservative, Evangelical Christian movement, whose history can be traced to Dublin, Ireland, in the late 1820s. Although the group is notable for not taking any official "church name" to itself, and not having an official clergy or liturgy, the title "The Brethren," is...

.
The Bradlaugh Debate, a public debate held in 1876 with Charles Bradlaugh
Charles Bradlaugh
Charles Bradlaugh was a political activist and one of the most famous English atheists of the 19th century. He founded the National Secular Society in 1866.-Early life:...

entitled “Is The Bible Divine?”.
Anglo-Israelism Refuted, based on a three night debate with the advocate of British Israelism
British Israelism
British Israelism is the belief that people of Western European descent, particularly those in Great Britain, are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The concept often includes the belief that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David...

, Edward Hine
Edward Hine
Edward Hine was an influential proponent of British Israelism in the 1870s and 1880s, drawing on the earlier work of Richard Brothers and John Wilson . Hine went as far as to conclude that "It is an utter impossibility for England ever to be defeated...

, held on April 21–23, 1879 at Exeter Hall
Exeter Hall
Exeter Hall was a hall on the north side of The Strand, London, England. It was erected between 1829 and 1831 on the site of Exeter Exchange, to designs by John Peter Gandy, the brother of the visionary architect Joseph Michael Gandy...

, London, with Lord William Lennox presiding.

Roberts was also involved in debates within the Christadelphian movement, which in some cases resulted in divisions. For example 1865 marked separation from George Dowie of Edinburgh who was teaching the doctrine of the existence of a supernatural devil. Roberts' brother-in-law, William Norrie, initially sided with Dowie, but Dowie's group did not long survive his death. As an "Arranging Brother" of Birmingham Temperance Hall Ecclesia he was directly involved in the compilation of the Birmingham Statement of Faith (1877), and by letter from overseas agreed with minor amendation to the BASF (Birmingham Amended Statement of Faith) in 1898. However also in 1898 was published an article True Principles and Uncertain Details; or, The Danger of Going Too Far in our Demands on Fellow-Believers

Books

Christendom Astray From the Bible
Christendom Astray from the Bible
Christendom Astray From the Bible is a polemic work by the Christadelphian Robert Roberts that claims to demonstrate that the main doctrines shared by most Christian denominations are at variance with the teachings of the Bible...

(1884)
Dr Thomas: His Life and Works (1873)
The Law of Moses
My Days and My Ways
Nazareth Revisited (1890)
Seasons of Comfort (1879)
Thirteen Lectures on the Apocalypse (1880)
To the Elect of God in Times of Trouble
The Truth about God and the Bible
The Visible Hand of God
The Ways of Providence (1881)
The Trial (1882)

Booklets

The Blood of Christ (1895)
The Christadelphian Instructor (1891)
The Commandments of Christ
The Ecclesial Guide (1883)
The Good Confession (1869)
The Parables of Christ
The Sect Everywhere Spoken Against (reprint of a lecture)
The Slain Lamb (1873)
Was Jesus of Nazareth The Messiah? (The Stern debate; 1871)

External links

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