The Truth and its defence

1. Fellowship with the Father: Walking in the LightNo. 4 · 1 March 1868 · 32 min read aloud · Read: 1 John 1

   Starts from the opening of 1 John, noting that the apostles’ eyewitness testimony to Christ was written to Gentiles and so addresses present believers, and that its object is fellowship with the Father and the Son.

2. Paul, Grecian Wisdom and the Spirit’s RevelationNo. 9 · 1 September 1868 · 29 min read aloud · Read: 1 Corinthians 2

   Expounding 1 Corinthians 2, the speaker argues that the chapter must be read against its setting: Paul preached Jesus Christ crucified, and the kingdom with him, to Corinthians trained in Greek philosophy, which taught that virtuous men would be saved and that the soul goes to a future state.

3. Paul’s Seed Analogy and the Mortal ResurrectionNo. 11 · 1 December 1868 · 21 min read aloud John Butler

   The speaker takes Paul’s comparison of the resurrection to a sown grain in 1 Corinthians 15 and argues that the germ of the seed corresponds not to an immortal soul but to the truth, which dwells in believers and is kept in God’s memory until Christ quickens it.

4. Charity, Vain Jangling and Unfeigned FaithNo. 15 · 1 December 1869 · 34 min read aloud · Read: 1 Timothy 1

   On 1 Timothy 1, the speaker says Paul’s commission as apostle to the Gentiles still reaches later believers and brings a responsibility with it.

5. Walking in Love Without Silencing the TruthNo. 16 · 1 January 1870 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Ephesians 5

   Taking Ephesians 5 as his starting point, the speaker says that to follow God is to walk in love, and that a man who holds the truth without love is not of God.

6. Clod-Hoppers, Invisible Stock and Scriptural JustificationNo. 29 · 1 September 1871 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Romans 4

   Opens by saying that life and all its goods end in the grave, yet men turn from the glory to be revealed and, like an agricultural labourer who distrusts commercial “stock”, despise the spiritual things they cannot see.

7. Spirit, Philosophy and the Body of ChristNo. 35 · 1 March 1872 · 24 min read aloud · Read: 1 Corinthians 12

   Reads 1 Corinthians 12 against the situation of the Corinthian believers, who had received the gifts of the Spirit yet were divided, and some of whom, influenced by Greek philosophy, called Jesus accursed while claiming the Spirit.

8. John’s Second Epistle: Love Bounded by the TruthNo. 49 · 1 December 1873 · 16 min read aloud · Read: 2 John

   On 2 John, the speaker distinguishes the worldly and orthodox notions of love from the apostolic love, which is bound up with the truth and issues in obedience.

9. Love Christ: His Character and Coming GloryNo. 51 · 1 February 1874 · 23 min read aloud

   Beginning from the breaking of bread, the speaker describes the love of Christ as the strongest motive among men and sets out the many sides of his character, which are all to be imitated, not only the gentle ones.

10. Steadfast at the Table Amid Trials and ApostasyNo. 52 · 1 March 1874 · 20 min read aloud

    Notes that the world regards the breaking of bread with scorn, though the saints are now free to meet since the end of the Papal power.

11. Ignorance, Forbearance and the Place of SistersNo. 56 · 1 July 1874 · 24 min read aloud

    Taking Paul’s words ‘If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant’ (1 Cor. xiv. 37), it urges that the truth must not be governed by pusillanimity or misplaced charity, and that the ‘bearing’ of the strong with the weak in Romans xv. concerns matters outside the faith and not its doctrines and precepts.

12. Faithful Exhortation and the Fear of GodNo. 63 · 1 February 1875 · 20 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 38

    Urges the brethren to keep assembling and exhorting one another daily, noting the restoration of the Spanish monarchy and the Jewish Board of Deputies’ decision on Sir Moses Montefiore’s Holy Land scheme as signs of the Lord’s approach.

13. Fruitful Truth, Not Barren Crotchets or SpeculationNo. 71 · 1 November 1875 · 25 min read aloud

    The exhortation urges the brethren to let the word of Christ dwell in them richly, by steady daily reading of the Scriptures rather than fits of intense application followed by neglect.

14. Solomon’s Proverbs as the Oracles of GodNo. 76 · 1 June 1876 · 28 min read aloud

    Taking Peter’s rule to speak “as the oracles of God”, the speaker argues that Solomon’s Proverbs carry apostolic authority and that they supply correctives against extremes: diligence against shiftless trust, warnings against haste to be rich, firmness towards fools and false brethren alongside kindness, and knowledge against the dangers of pride.

15. Going Forth Without the Camp: Truth and WorksNo. 79 · 1 December 1876 · 20 min read aloud · Read: Hebrews 13

    Taking Paul’s exhortation to go forth unto Christ without the camp, the speaker says that it meant excommunication for Jewish believers and, for the brethren, separation from the popular religious system, which does not uphold “the truth” as the pillar and ground of it.

16. A Rebellious House: Understanding and WitnessingNo. 89 · 1 November 1877 · 21 min read aloud · Read: Ezekiel 12

    Starting from the reading of the prophets, the exhortation says believers now understand what Israel and the churches around us do not, and that this shows them, like Ezekiel, living in the midst of a rebellious house whose ways, not only its opinions, are contrary to the Scriptures.

17. Zephaniah’s Warning: Deism, Pride and PatriotismNo. 92 · 1 February 1878 · 24 min read aloud · Read: Zephaniah 2

    From the oracle of Zephaniah 2, the exhortation says that Scripture written about ancient peoples is for our instruction, and that the ‘men settled on their lees’ who think God does nothing, good or evil, hold what is now called Deism.

18. The Creator of the Heavens and the Gospel HopeNo. 94 · 1 April 1878 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 96

    Starting from Psalm 96:5, “the Lord made the heavens,” the speaker says the starry heavens impress on us the greatness of God, and that even scientists find things that appear “made” at the lowest depth of investigation.

19. Guided by God’s Counsel in the ScripturesNo. 96 · 1 June 1878 · 26 min read aloud

    Taking ‘Thou wilt guide me by Thy counsel and afterwards receive me to glory,’ the speaker says believers are guided now by the written word, which makes the man of God thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

20. Gentile Fellow-Heirship and Walking Worthy of the CallingNo. 101 · 1 November 1878 · 29 min read aloud

    Taking Paul’s words in Ephesians about the mystery that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, the speaker argues that orthodox believers in the immortality of the soul cannot understand it, since before Paul’s mission the Gentiles were without hope and were admitted only through the gospel.

21. God’s Mercy and the Forgiven Believer’s ConductNo. 111 · 1 September 1879 · 19 min read aloud

    Begins from the wisdom shown in creation and argues that the Bible, which makes everything of God, answers the self-evolution theory and settles the question of the Creator.

22. Remembrance, Paul’s Testimony and the ResurrectionNo. 114 · 1 December 1879 · 16 min read aloud

    Says the breaking of bread was appointed so that believers would keep Christ in memory during his absence, and takes Paul’s words ‘I have received of the Lord’ as its starting point.

23. The Golden Candlestick: Light-Bearing EcclesiasNo. 116 · 1 February 1880 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Zechariah 4

    Taking the vision of the olive-fed golden lampstand in Zechariah 4, the speaker says its message, “Not by might nor by power, but by My spirit”, points to the future work of God through Christ and the saints drawn from Jew and Gentile, the two olive trees, by tried faith.

24. Election by Moral Fitness: Romans 9 ConcludedNo. 124 · 1 October 1880 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Romans 9

    Returns to Romans 9 and argues that God’s family is not developed on mere descent but on faith and docility like Abraham’s, so that heirs must do the works of Abraham.

25. Salvation Is of the Jews: Israel RestoredNo. 125 · 1 November 1880 · 29 min read aloud · Read: Ezekiel 36

    Takes Christ’s words ‘Salvation is of the Jews’ to argue that there is no hope in natural directions, only in Christ, and that the Christ of the Bible cannot be separated from Israel’s history and land.

26. Daniel’s Prayer: God’s Greatness, Seventy WeeksNo. 126 · 1 December 1880 · 33 min read aloud · Read: Daniel 9

    Taking the Daniel 9 reading, notes that Babylon’s fall shows God’s purpose standing sure and that reading the Scriptures together relieves the feeling that present evils must last.

27. Facts, Fulfilled Prophecy and the Apostles’ WitnessNo. 127 · 1 January 1881 · 27 min read aloud

    Taking Christ’s words ‘If ye believe not me, believe the works,’ the speaker argues that God’s appeal to man has always rested on facts, and that believers today stand on a long record of fulfilled prophecy, including the prophecy that prophecy would cease for a time.

28. The Memorial Cup, the New Covenant and BloodNo. 128 · 1 February 1881 · 26 min read aloud

    Beginning with the passover that Jesus kept with his disciples, the speaker treats it as a type fulfilled in Christ, who shared the mortality of those he came to redeem and whose own blood delivers them.

29. Godliness: God Chooses Those Who Fear HimNo. 131 · 1 July 1881 · 27 min read aloud

    Starting from the unshaken foundation on which believers stand, the speaker asks whether Christ will accept those who have accepted him, and finds the answer in the Spirit’s declaration that the Lord has chosen ‘him that is godly.’ Godliness is held to be devotion to God himself, as shown in the Mosaic and Christian systems and in Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus, rather than the mere ‘manliness’ of popular Christianity.

30. The Truth, the Hope of Israel, and ComfortNo. 132 · 1 August 1881 · 23 min read aloud · Read: 2 John, 3 John, Isaiah 43

    Asked what is meant by ‘the truth,’ the speaker shows from John’s epistles and Paul’s words that it is the truth of the gospel, which is the hope of Israel, so linking John to the Isaiah chapter read that morning.

31. Right Views of Life: Tyre, Britain, PaulNo. 135 · 1 November 1881 · 29 min read aloud · Read: 1 Chronicles 15, Ezekiel 27, Ezekiel 28, Galatians 1

    The exhortation argues that right views of life are of great consequence, since human life and history look aimless without the testimony of Scripture.

32. Why We Meet: Christ’s Resurrection and Our NeedsNo. 141 · 1 July 1882 · 27 min read aloud

    The speaker asks why the brethren meet every first day to break bread, and answers that Jesus commanded it and that his works, and above all the apostles’ eye-witness testimony to his resurrection confirmed by miracles, show him to be Master and Lord.

33. Paul at Athens: God Near, Judgment ComingNo. 145 · 1 December 1882 · 31 min read aloud · Read: Acts 17

    Standing with Paul on Mars Hill (Acts 17), the exhortation defends reasoned argument for the faith, provided it is done in love, and contrasts the restless search for novelty in speculative philosophy with the satisfaction the truth gives.

34. Brethren of the Prophets: Bearing Their TestimonyNo. 149 · 1 October 1883 · 22 min read aloud

    Starting from James’s appeal to the prophets as examples of affliction and patience, the speaker says they were not men free from distress, and cites Ezekiel, sent to a rebellious house and told to eat a roll of lamentation and woe.

35. Paul’s Shipwreck and the Resurrection TestimonyNo. 151 · 1 December 1883 · 19 min read aloud · Read: Acts 27

    Reflecting on the reading of Paul’s shipwreck in Acts, the speaker argues that the narrative is plainly true history, and that the charge against Paul, as stated by Festus, was that he affirmed Jesus, who was dead, to be alive.

36. Light and Darkness: God’s Plan Behind SufferingNo. 154 · 1 March 1884 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Acts 15

    Beginning with the darkness of the world, and recent revelations of the misery of the London poor, the speaker takes comfort from James’s words that all God’s works are known to him from the beginning.

37. Ezekiel’s Coming Glory and Abiding in ChristNo. 156 · 1 May 1884 · 24 min read aloud · Read: John 15

    Joins the morning’s two readings: Ezekiel’s vision of the restored land, temple and city, which is the ‘heavenly country’ and ‘city having foundations’ Abraham looked for, and Christ’s discourse in John about the vine and the branches.

38. The Nearness of Death and the Lord’s ComingNo. 176 · 1 March 1887 · 29 min read aloud · Read: Psalm 53, Psalm 54, Psalm 55, Romans 7, Romans 8

    The speaker defends the commanded meeting and urges that its order and exhortation aim at edification, then argues that the Lord’s coming is nearer than supposed, since death, as with a young brother lately dead at 27, would bring it for any of us in a moment.

39. Philemon’s Clues: Paul, Prisoner of Jesus ChristNo. 180 · 1 July 1887 · 27 min read aloud · Read: Philemon

    Using the picture of a scrap of paper from which a finder could infer a paper mill, a pen and a living writer, the exhortation reasons from the opening words of Philemon (“Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ”) to the facts behind them.

40. Jeremiah 14: Forgetting God and False ProphetsNo. 182 · 1 September 1887 · 27 min read aloud · Read: Jeremiah 14

    From the drought described in Jeremiah 14, the exhortation says Israel’s calamities came because they forgot God and neglected His law, and that this is written for our learning, so that the world’s forgetfulness of God and the risk of drifting with it are warned against.

41. Ezekiel’s Three Visions of God’s GloryNo. 183 · 1 October 1887 · 26 min read aloud

    Taking the book of Ezekiel read that morning, the exhortation says it has a beginning, middle and end, in each of which the prophet witnesses the glory of the Lord: first in the vision by the river Chebar, then in the glory’s departure from Jerusalem, and finally in its return to the future temple.

42. Obadiah’s Vision and God’s Judgment of NationsNo. 249 · 1 January 1894 · 25 min read aloud · Read: Obadiah

    Taking the short prophecy of Obadiah against Edom, the exhortation says it is the vision that matters rather than the prophet, and explains why Esau was hated and Jacob loved and why the world hates those who love God.

43. Pentecost as Demonstration of Christ’s ResurrectionNo. 254 · 1 June 1894 · 19 min read aloud · Read: Acts 2

    Taking Acts 2, the speaker explains why the apostles were told to wait for Pentecost: their personal testimony to the resurrection needed the confirmation of miracles, and speaking in known languages before the crowd at Jerusalem supplied it.

44. The Meaning of Christ’s Death Against SubstitutionNo. 258 · 1 October 1894 · 23 min read aloud

    Beginning from the risen Christ’s interest in the disciples on the Emmaus road and in the breaking of bread, the speaker explains why sin brought death and why God chose a middle way, enforcing the law while offering mercy to the repentant.

45. Fulfilled Prophecy of Tyre and the Overcoming LifeNo. 259 · 1 November 1894 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Ezekiel 25, Ezekiel 26, Ezekiel 27, Ezekiel 28

    The speaker says believers stand between the old man and the new, and that God alone can make all things new, which is why His words are to be trusted as true.

46. Isaiah’s Song of the Redeemed Righteous NationNo. 304 · 1 January 1899 · 23 min read aloud · Read: Isaiah 26, Hebrews 10 Printed after his death

    Beginning from the fact that the Scriptures are God’s word and not man’s, the speaker takes the song of Isaiah 26 and shows from Isaiah 25 and 1 Corinthians 15 that it is to be sung in the day of Christ’s return and the resurrection.

47. The Purpose of God and Children of PromiseNo. 310 · 1 October 1899 · 22 min read aloud · Read: Romans 9 Printed after his death

    The speaker says the truth is for every-day use and is given in varied form so that it can be handled daily without weariness.

48. Obedience, Sons of God, and Inspired ProphecyNo. 311 · 1 November 1899 · 18 min read aloud W. R.

    From the day’s readings in Kings, Jeremiah and Mark, the speaker draws that God’s word by his prophets comes to pass and must be obeyed, citing the man of God at Bethel and the warnings against any other gospel.

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