TITUS 1
2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
A literal translation removes all difficulty. The phrase [in Greek] is before the aionian times; that is, before the times of the Hebrew commonwealth were arranged, God promised eternal life, and in definite times, such times, namely, as are particularised in Daniel (Dan. 9:24-26), He made His word, which had before been a hidden mystery, manifest (Rom. 16:26) through the apostolic preaching.
Elpis Israel 2.1.
4 To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
The faith of which Jesus is the "author and finisher" is not the act of mind by which we lay hold of the gospel, but the system of truth described as "the common faith," (Titus 1:4, ) "the one faith," (Eph. 4:5, ) "the faith that should afterwards be revealed."—(Gal. 3:23.)
If the act of faith were due to the volition of Christ acting upon us, there would be no need for the exhortation contained in the very place where the expression occurs:
"Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, "
If a faithful state of mind were preternaturally engendered from without, after the manner of inspiration, there would be no need for those precautions and exercises which tend to preserve us
"grounded and settled, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel."—(Col. 1:23.) II.—(Rom. 12:3.)
The Christadelphian, April 1870
5 For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:
Appointed Elders
...Some thought there was direction enough in the Apostolic precepts relating to the choosing of bishops and deacons: some asked why not appoint elders as these?
The answer lies in the great difference between our own age and the Apostolic age in respect of the presence and guidance of the Spirit of God. There is not in our day that open guidance that would give sanction and authority to ruling brethren. There may be brethren having the qualifications for the exercise of authority; but how can they exercise authority in the absence of that Divine appointment that confers it?
The brotherhood are comparable in this respect to the servants in a nobleman's house who have been left to themselves for a time. There may be those among them capable of taking the headship, but because the nobleman has omitted to name and appoint them, they cannot take the place.
...the whole spirit of the present age is too intolerant to government; and the materials for trusty and benevolent authority too poor and scanty to admit of any close approximation to the apostolic original. We can but do the best we can in our evil day, in hope that the Lord will overlook our blunders, and give us a place in that perfectly well-ordered house of authority that will be established in all the earth when the absent nobleman returns.
My days and my ways Ch 25
6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
One wife
... the Gentiles have liberty to set up any, and all kinds of abominations in their court, or area of operation, without being subjected to immediate judgment for their crimes.
Hence, polygamous Mormonism, and adulterous Romanism, courtezan state-churchism, and hypocritical sectarianism, all flourish in their several spheres of abomination.
Eureka 11.1.ii.4.
12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
THE CRETANS.
Many of the converts made from among them to the faith by Paul, seem to have been so inveterately imbued with their old habits of thought and action, that he despaired of making any thing of them that was even respectable in the eyes of the heathen. Quoting one of their own prophets or wise men, he says:
"The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bodies;"
and he adds, as the result of his own experience with them, "this testimony is true."
It was true not of the pagan Cretans only, but of the prominent persons in the body of Christ also in the island. These were "liars," or as he says,
"unruly and vain talkers, and deceivers."
The word "Cretan" then with us comes to designate a class of persons who profess to be "pious," or religious, but who bridle not their tongues; but talk in an unruly and reproachful manner.
We have had to do with a great many such in our time, whose pleasure it has been to prophesy evil things concerning us. The last exercise of their gifts in this way was to predict that we had absconded and should never return.
The wish was father to the thought. The result, however, has proved them Cretans; and shown also that if we are able to make but few prophets for the truth, we can make false ones by the hundred.
Our return has proved our detractors to be "liars;" and will be a lesson to them we hope for the future, not to judge of the principles and motives by which we are actuated, by their own evil and unsanctified imaginations.
Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1851
14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
The gospel of the kingdom, so efficiently preached by the apostles, was soon after perverted by "men of corrupt minds" (2 Tim. 3:1-8;4:3,4; Tit. 1:10-14), whom Paul, who was very severe, but not too much so, upon this class of professors, styles
"seducing spirits, speaking lies in hypocrisy, and having their conscience seared as with a hot iron" (1 Tim. 4:1-3).
Elpis Israel 2.1.
Dowieism
'...At present, they are in fellowship with the Dowieites of Edinburgh. This compelled the editor to absent himself from their breaking of bread. In their present position, they are the Dowieites to every real friend of the truth; and no real friend of the truth would countenance the loose, uncertain, corrupt, and worldly attitude of the Dowieites.
There are many reasons why he would not. In the first place, he would not thus be partaker of their evil deeds. To fellowship, if it be fellowship at all, is to homologate, countenance, assist, encourage, sympathise with, promote and heartily abet the thing and the people fellowshipped.
We do not speak of the lifeless state of things commonly called fellowship, in which a man is only a formal adherent and not an active supporter and ardent lover of the cause of Christ. We refer to the real thing in which the deep purpose of life runs with unerring and unwearying flow in the channel of christian enthusiasm. Now for a man to extend this sort of support to an evil system is to incur a blame and do a wrong. He cannot do it and be guiltless, because complicity brings culpability.
On the other hand, his doing it adds to the system's power for mischief in the ratio of his own influence. On these grounds, a real friend of the truth will stand apart from Dowieism. It professes the name and deals in the phrases of the truth. For this reason, it is all the more to be avoided, because it is the more likely to receive the attention of the unwary, and to bring its blighting influence successfully to bear on the ripening seed of the kingdom. It holds a little of the truth, and that weakly, while it mixes with the truth the corrupting leaven of superstition and scripture perversion, and in its practical attitude in relation to even what it believes, it is thoroughly Laodicean and exerts a Laodiceanising influence upon those brought within its pale.
Why not teach the poor things? it is asked.
Did Jesus teach the Scribes and Pharisees? Kindly suasion is only possible where people are in a candid and teachable frame of mind, and where this disposition exists, the moral instincts will intuitively adapt themselves in yearning solicitude to the wants of those concerned. But this is out of the question where men set themselves in stubborn opposition for years, as the Dowieites have done, to many parts of the truth, and those who advocate it without compromise.
The only thing left is to come out from among them, and oppose them, leaving to them the responsibility of all that may result from their perversity and blindness. This we have done and mean to do to the end; and whatever the tongue of slander may utter, or the evil heart surmise, we have only one object in view, and that is, the preservation of the truth in its purity and vigour and potentiality over those embracing it.
This result is secured by isolating Dowieism from those means of influence which, for good or evil, arise from associational community. To do this effectually, every gap must be stopped, and we therefore felt compelled to refuse a connection with the Aberdeen ecclesia in its present attitude toward the Dowieites.
The Ambassador of the Coming Age, Oct 1867. p242