Some Thoughts on the Work of Dr. Thomas

As with each passing day we draw nearer to Christ’s return to this earth, we are widening the length of time that separates us from the period when the originator of the name Christadelphian” was preaching the gospel to all who would listen on the east Coast and in Great Britain

In our brother Roberts book on Dr Thomas’ life, there are so many personal examples that are such wonderful exhortations to all of us that I think it would be well worth our time to dwell on some of them for a few moments Inherent in my reasons for devoting a little time to Dr Thomas is the fact that I feel that we should be in gross error if we were to allow the memory of this devoted Christadelphian’s life to be obliterated by the passage of time that may come to pass before the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I realize that to many these next few paragraphs are far from new, but I would like to briefly relate a few of the opening scenes depicted in brother Roberts’ book to those who may not have had the opportunity to read this fine work (I would suggest that if you have not done so, you read this book at your earliest convenience, for it is a tremendously interesting book concerning a truly amazing individual ) The story behind Dr Thomas’ initial decision to search out the truth is one that few Hollywood producers would have to alter to make it attractive enough for publication

In 1832 he set out from Britain across the Atlantic in a ship called the “Mar­quis of Wellesley” in the capacity of ship surgeon in order to earn his way to the New World. As fate would have it, the ship had not been at sea very long when It met with foul weather The storm proved to be a violent one that claimed both the main mast and the fore top mast, as well as everything movable on deck Eventually the ship found itself aground and in all probability would soon have been broken up by the pounding surf. It was at this point that the 27 year old doctor who had paid little or no attention to religious matters during hi lifetime was faced with the possibility of death. The question naturally came to his mind at this time as to what would become of him in the life hereafter, there was in fact such a hereafter. He concluded that the best thing to do a this time would be to ‘go down” with prayer on his lips. At the same time he determined that if he ever reached shore again he would not rest until he found the truth concerning a future life, so that he might never again be found in a state of uncertainty such as this. Then, due to a change in wind a few moments late the captain managed to turn the show around, and it limped along for ten more days at sea until It finally reached New York harbor

Immediately we learn of one of Dr. Thomas’ outstanding characteristics. He was truly a stranger and pilgrim in the world, not only in reality but also spirit. He met with nothing but criticism and adversity throughout his entire life, yet he did not give up the struggle He had no one upon whom to lean, other brother to back him up in his beliefs nor anyone to help him over the rough places as we all do today But even though he met with continuous opposition, he failed to permit this to sway him from his search for the truth This also is an excellent exhortation to each of as we attempt to give the truth those around us, as we, too, are commanded to be strangers and pilgrims the world in which we live.

With the doctor’s moving from the busy city life and his medical practice a farm, we learn a great deal about devotion to his work He knew that practice was diminishing, due to the attention he was giving to his search the truth, and the difference of his beliefs from those of the religious community about him. He realized also that time had come to decide whether to g up this search and turn his attention medicine, or Just the opposite He that to give up his editing and preach would be abandoning the path of duty, and therefore he decided to purchase a arm and devote his leisure time to writing and publishing

Again we have an excellent exhortation How many of us could truthfully may that we would do such a thing? Here was a man who could have led a life if luxury, and could have gained fame and personal prestige from being one of the few medical doctors available during this period in history He certainly could have reasoned that he had to earn a living for himself, and that God would surely understand his situation if he did not have time enough to do all the work for the truth that he had intended to do but Dr Thomas did not reason this way as much as we may dislike to acknowledge it, we will have to admit that this is more descriptive of the way we would look at this situation in this day and age we were faced with similar circumstances Dr Thomas might have lived with himself and his conscience in the years to come had It not been for one thing, his love for the truth and his desire to publish the Word of God as he understood it so that this light might shine forth on deserving hearts and minds How thankful we should be that his mind did not succumb to the reasoning of the flesh!

This is a wonderful exhortation to the brotherhood to be extremely careful in choosing an occupation. We must be very certain that the occupation we choose will not lead us from God’s way, and if we find that our work is taking too much our time we should not hesitate to seek other employment at once Therefore it is important that we step back and take a look at our lives from time and evaluate them in light of the move-mentioned facts Why? Because we are human beings can very easily justify almost any action we take, regardless of nature, and therefore we must be consistently looking at ourselves objectively see that we stay on the road that will d us to life eternal.

So we find that Dr Thomas shunned his life of certain luxury to become a giver of the soil, a life that called for extreme physical stamina and punishment, so that here he could use his leisure time, not to rest from the 12 to 14 hours of working in the field each day, but rather to have more time to study the pages of truth, to have time to publish his monthly magazine, “The Apostolic Advocate”

Now comes the argument that we hear so often, that things were different then, that conditions have changed since the 1830s, and that things are just not like they used to be Brethren and sisters, I will be the first to agree that things are not the same today as they were in the 1830s Let us look at a few examples In the 1830s they did not have an eight hour day five days a week, they worked twelve to fourteen hours a day six and sometimes seven days a week True, they did not have to fight the terrible traffic downtown on Saturday afternoons just to get a few necessary provisions, BUT they had to ride a horse ten or fifteen miles just to get to a town to buy the ingredients to prepare such provisions

We have more prosperity this day and age and more leisure time at our disposal than any civilization has known throughout recorded history But is this reflected in our work for the truth? Now that we have to work on the average of about forty hours a week compared to about seventy-two or eighty a few decades ago, do we spend twice as much time in studying and working for the truth as did those in Dr Thomas’ era? I think not We hear many say, “How in the world did he ever find time, energy and motivation to study the Scriptures, publish a monthly magazine, and still single hand edly maintain a farm that required approximately fourteen hours of personal work each day? There are many answers to this question The most predominant, of course, is that he had a love for the truth and a devotion to seeking first the kingdom of God that we would all do well to take notice of. He obviously had such a love for the truth and such a personal drive to do what God had commanded him to do, that he refused to allow physical fatigue to stand in his way In addition, he evidently did not come into his home after a hard day’s work and sit down in front of the television set until it was time to retire for the evening He obviously did not spend his spare time building ships in bottles or other things that may have been considered hobbies in those days For had he done so, he surely would not have had time to publish a monthly magazine. Also Dr Thomas would surely have been able to quote many more verses from Scripture than he would have been able to quote the batting averages of the local baseball team, were he living today.

Brethren and sisters, we must ask ourselves where we stand in view of these matters Of course we are not all fitted to be publishers of magazines, yet I am sure that each of us is possessed of certain talents that could be put to much better use for the work of the truth than presently is being done Of course, after having set Dr Thomas up on such a high plane, there are those who are going to say that perhaps he was in error to devote so much time to the pages of truth while perhaps neglecting many other aspects of his life In this respect, I would like for us to just ask ourselves where the truth would be today were It not for the work of Dr Thomas? If the basic texts concerning the truth on our shelves in our homes were removed, would our faith be as strong as it is.

Returning to the doctor’s life, one characteristic that he exemplified continually throughout his search for the truth was that of being willing to debate and discuss the Scriptures with anyone who would take on his challenge He appears to have taken every such opportunity to debate the truth that was offered him so that he might further be convinced that the imprint his study of the Scriptures had made on his mind was in fact what God had intended it to be A sentence from one of his publications bears this out We read, But what theologian under these heavens can be found who has confidence enough in his own dogmas who will come forward (armed) in his Greek, Latin and Hebrew and defend the immortality of the soul in all its relations against the editor of the “Herald of the Future Age”?

Personally, I feel that we are lacking a great deal of this old spirit of zeal and zeal that Dr Thomas so openly displayed. Everyone that came in contact with him knew without a doubt that he was a student of the Scriptures and brother of Christ He was a living example of what he preached and believed. Can we say this of ourselves? How many of our close acquaintances have any idea at all that we are brethren and sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ and that we are students of the Scriptures? More than this, how many of our friends would be somewhat surprised if they were to suddenly learn that we are very interested the Scriptures and that we claim them the first thing in our lives?

At this point I would like to dwell of something that I have been noticing the past few years that is somewhat disturbing to me This is the growing disrespect and disregard for the teachings are works of Dr Thomas I personally feel that we are making a big mistake The trend today seems to be more toward the contemporary writers than to the brethren of a few decades ago This not to say that our contemporaries are error, but if the trend continues, and begin to direct our attention solely on the writings and teachings of our contemporaries, this practice just might influence the babes in the truth to a point when they accept such writings as absolute truth and could not recognize an error a modern publication if they were to see one I also feel that there are very few, if any, of the very devoted and intelligent brethren in our midst today when possess that combination of determination, knowledge, perseverance and intelligence to put together such a collections of thoughts and logical truths in the lifetime as did Dr Thomas “Elpis Israel ‘ is an unparalleled masterpiece itself, not to mention the genius in umes such as Eureka’ , “Phanerosi and his many articles and publications, name just a few

As mentioned, we do have many very intelligent and devoted brethren in midst today, but we must remember that they had the foundations set down by Dr Thomas to guide them in their endeavours Just how many of these brethren could have started without any guidance whatsoever and explained the Word of God so beautifully and so completely as Dr Thomas did ? We might even go a little further and ask just how many would have been inspired to do so had they not first learned of the beautiful golden thread that is woven through the Scriptures from some other Christadel­phians who in turn learned it from Dr Thomas? I personally feel that very few would have been so inspired, if any at all.

A goodly number of the brotherhood, myself Included, feel that the hand of God did surely enter into Dr Thomas’ life directly and led him to the truth, that the hand of God turned those winds the other way when his ship was aground in the Atlantic, thereby enabling Dr Thomas to have the opportunity to keep his promise to search for the truth; that it was the hand of God that enabled him to put together such fantastically concise and complete works as “Elpis Israel” and Eureka” The point to be made here is that whereas Dr Thomas was merely a member of Adams’ race as you and I arc, perhaps the hand of God did aid in the writing of his works and that we should read them carefully before casting them aside We all are aware of the several instances where many Christadelphians were positive that Dr. Thomas was surely wrong, such as during World War II when they were positive that Hitler and Germany were the King of the North, yet in a few years we find that they were forced once again to return to Dr Thomas’ assertions that Russia was in fact this King of the North —assertions made in the mid 1800s

I do not wish to give the impression that I am advocating that we as Christa­delphians should be placing Dr Thomas in some position of divinity as the Mor­mons place Joseph Smith, but I do think that we should put him in the position of our elder and most learned brother, and always at least consider earnestly the proposals that he has made when searching out some aspect of the Scriptures. The trend seems to be somewhat in the other direction lately. How long has it been since we have looked at our “Eu­rekas”, our copies of “Phanerosis”, and many of the other works of Dr Thomas other than “Elpis Israel” which should always be on the top of the Christadel­phian references that we use?

Again, many claim that times have changed since Dr Thomas wrote and say that Christadelphians must change their ways to meet modern circumstances But, brethren and sisters, the truth does not change! It has been the same since Jesus delivered the gospel to His apostles and it will continue to be the same until He returns to this earth! As we look at the world about us, we are all quite aware that Christ’s return to this earth is very near, as conditions cannot continue much longer is they have been the past few years. Something is going to give way soon, and that something is going to signal the return of Christ. Therefore let us each resolve to work harder for the Word of God that we all believe in so earnestly, so that when our Lord and Savior does return to this earth He will find us all waiting, watching, and working in His vineyard