Originally published in the September 1975 issue of The Testimony magazine
Robert Roberts
THE STUDY OF the life and character of any man or woman, apart from a Divine assessment, is always one of unusual difficulty and complexity. Even when a detailed daily diary has been kept with the personal opinions of the writer and the reactions of other people a great deal of interpretation and even guesswork is involved. When the study is based on personal recollections, fragmentary data, and an autobiography which, as Islip Collyer points out, cannot give an adequate picture, there is a real challenge to the skill and imagination of the writer. The author has used the available material to give us a picture, not just of the works of Robert Roberts, but also of his character.
It is made quite clear from the start that Robert Roberts believed wholeheartedly in the “Ways of Providence”. Here it is wise to recall what he wrote on this very subject. “There is such a thing as chance, as distinct from what God does. The whorl of a cloud of dust before the windy gust coming round the corner of the house illustrates the point. His purpose does not require Him to decide which shells any or every child on the seashore shall pick up and which throw away, unless the incident be a link in a purpose being worked out, and then the hand of the child will be guided. This illustration touches a great fact which it is important to see clearly … It constitutes the platform of providence. There could be no such conception of providence if everything were due to direct Divine volition. This conception requires that some things are God’s doing, and some are not.” From early days we see this principle in operation when he comes across a copy of The Herald of the Kingdom by Doctor Thomas and later discovers that his elder sister is receiving it regularly every month. We are told, “The boy read and was fascinated”.
Later on we learn that in order to help the small ecclesia at Huddersfield he took special care over a series of twelve lectures, and wrote them out in full, contrary to his usual practice of relying on notes. These lectures formed the basis for Christendom Astray, a book which has probably contributed more to the acceptance of the Truth than any other human work.
Another example of his attitude to Divine providence is related by Islip Collyer. Brother Roberts was experiencing a heavy storm in the Atlantic when on his way to bury Brother John Thomas: “He was perfectly satisfied that whatever happened would be right. If God had work for them to perform they would be preserved, but he did not think there was any assurance that the continuance of their lives was necessary. Even in those early days he was quite ready for that dreamless sleep which would so seem to hasten the final judgement, and he was not at all disposed to set any value on human personalities.”
It is particularly noticeable that his choice of work was advantageous to the overriding work of the Truth. He was a journalist first in Aberdeen, and then in Edinburgh where there were improved opportunities for development. He lost the Edinburgh job due to an error in copying a legal document. Better prospects opened up further south in Huddersfield. Later, he felt that the community in Birmingham needed his help and gave up the post in Huddersfield to eventually become a reporter on the Birmingham Daily Post. Here again he hesitated; he would have preferred a weekly paper where he would have his weekends free for the work in the ecclesias. Often work for the paper involved work on a Sunday, but it was not long before he managed to become the reporter for the bankruptcy court in Birmingham which left his week-ends free, but no doubt was less interesting and less remunerative than his previous position.
The work of preaching was not without antagonism. How different from these days of apathy! At a series of special lectures at Dorchester, for example, “At the first of the lectures there was such a constant interruption and uproar that it was almost impossible to make the people hear even when reading the Scripture. When the meeting was over there was an ugly rush for the platform. The lecturer and his friends were let out at the back door. In the street at the back it seemed that pickets had been stationed, and a wolf-like howl brought the mob charging round from the front … The next night the police were at the Town Hall and the mob behaved rather better. The third night, however, was worse than ever, there being turmoil and confusion in the hall, and in spite of the police there was serious mobbing on the way home. Stones were thrown, always a sign that the devil has broken loose. Still worse things threatened for the last night. It became known that arrangements had been made for an organised riot.”
All of this must be seen against the background of growing ecclesias with the almost inevitable clash of personalities and the introduction of false doctrines such as that of partial inspiration of the Scriptures. All of this weighed heavily on Robert Roberts as did also the poverty that existed among many brethren and sisters, often because they had espoused the Truth. This led him into a number of disastrous business ventures undertaken with the laudable intention of alleviating suffering in the community.
Even in the Roberts’ family there were the almost inevitable trials that are common in life and even more so in those days than now. We read of the loss of their infant daughter a little more than a year after their marriage. Later they suffered the loss of a four-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter within a few days of each other. Islip Collyer mentions the joy which Robert Roberts found in his family and home in spite of all the work he did as a speaker and the tragedies we have mentioned. One would have been very interested to have been told much more of this side of his character and the burdens that must have been shouldered by Jane Roberts (neé Norrie) in order that he should be able to carry out the work of speaking and writing for which he is remembered most.
In this study we have an example of a faithful disciple who in spite of all the difficulties of the way, both personal and ecclesial, was never deflected from his faith in the whole purpose of God.
Brother Roberts and his family eventually moved to Melbourne, Australia, due to the good offices of the brethren there. The intention was that he should revisit England at frequent intervals. After some twelve months or so he felt it imperative to visit the United States’ ecclesias and it was while on his way there that he fell asleep in Christ Jesus. He was buried alongside Dr. Thomas, and Islip Collyer’s concluding words seem most appropriate: “Two stalwart labourers who had sacrificed all human interests on the altar of their faith lay side by side in the prison-house of death. Through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant they had been made ‘prisoners of hope’, awaiting the unerring judgement of the last day.”
This review originally appeared in the September 1975 edition of The Testimony Magazine (pages 358-359), and is reproduced by kind permission.
