PROVERBS 12


11 He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.

The senseless and contemptible literary effusions that make their appearance every week strikingly indicate the frivolous,‭ ‬immoral and unreflective character of our generation.‭

Brethren should shun such reading-it is worse than profitless.‭ ‬It enfeebles and corrupts the mind.‭ ‬Indulgence in it is a sin of no small magnitude-it is beholding vanity in one of its most naked forms-it is thwarting God's work among men.‭ ‬God is calling men to sobriety,‭ ‬thoughtfulness,‭ ‬and godliness.‭ ‬Those who deal in the current light,‭ ‬trashy literature are doing just the opposite.‭

Of what use in Christ's service is a brother whose mind is filled with such nonsense‭? ‬Can he retail it with profit‭? ‬Surely enough of such matter is thrust upon us in our unavoidable contact with the world without our wilfully seeking it.‭ ‬Constant reading is a keeping company

‭-"‬He that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.‭"

Half-an-hour's reading out of the said periodicals-what a preparation for that duty of dispersing knowledge which God has laid upon the righteous‭! ‬Time is precious.‭ ‬If we have minutes to spare let us devote them to the perusal of that which will strengthen and not that which will weaken our faith.

Bro A Jannaway

The Christadelphian Oct 1887





15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.

A man has only to look round and note the myriad indications of contrivance in things small and things great to feel an intuitive certainty that there is somewhere an intelligence as much above man's as the works of nature are above the works of art.

‭ ‬And then when he reflects upon the fact‭ (‬evidenced by the many things in heaven and earth‭) ‬that the universe has not always existed,‭ ‬he is taken away back to the beginning,‭ ‬however remote,‭ ‬and made to feel that that which then was‭ (‬by whatever name called‭) ‬must have possessed the power and wisdom to elaborate the material creation we now see it.‭ ‬Human thought calls it‭ "‬force‭" ‬without allowing the wisdom and the power.‭ ‬The Bible exhibition of this beginning is the only one that meets the demands of reason.

‭ "‬In the beginning-God:‭" ‬this accounts for all.‭ ‬It gives us the wisdom and the power equal to the production of what is.‭ "‬In the beginning-force‭"‬:‭ ‬this accounts for nothing:‭ ‬it neither accounts for the work of creation when it began nor for the previous quiescence of the cosmic energy.‭ ‬If God is mysterious,‭ ‬force is not less so-a little more so in fact when considered as a something that slept for eternal ages and then without any reason,‭ ‬suddenly woke up and started building up worlds at‭ "‬the beginning.‭"

Let reason rule,‭ ‬and God will be joyfully perceived and received as the everlasting foundation of all things.‭ ‬Only the man in whom reason is weak,‭ ‬or warped,‭ ‬or unenlightened,‭ ‬will say‭ "‬there is no God‭;" ‬and the Bible gives us the right name for a man with reason in such a condition.

Bro Roberts



17 He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.

Truth can stand any test. Truth is immortal; and fears nothing but the lukewarmness of her friends, in whose house she is more frequently wounded than in conflict with her foes.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Apr 1851



24 The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.

This is the time for diligence; it is not a state of things in which we can congratulate ourselves upon being safe. There is nobody safe; that is to say, nobody can say that they are saved until the day of selection come, and they have been selected. They cannot judge themselves. Some people imagine that when they have believed the Gospel and been baptised, they have done all -- that they have secured the prize. They have not secured the prize at all; they have but entered the lists for the competition to secure it.

Bro Roberts - The unsearchable riches of Christ