A Declaration of Fellowship

from "The Christadelphian" November, 1873

The following letter, sent through the post, to all the brethren and sisters in Birmingham will best explain the crisis just at maturity there.

To the Brethren and Sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ (collectively and individually) assembling in Temperance Hall, Temple Street, Birmingham, from Robert Roberts, a fellow-partaker of the holy calling, and partner in the tribulation of the present evil world, to which the saints are subjected in hope.

Greeting in the Lord.

Grace, mercy and peace be multiplied unto you abundantly, from Him who is the Father of all, through His beloved one, our Lord and Master, who was manifested to put away our sins, and now sits, glorified, at the right hand of the Majesty on high, waiting the time when his enemies shall be made his footstool.

I find it necessary to address you from the retirement forced upon me by the weakness of this sin-stricken body (Rom. 8:10; Col. 3:3), but from the immediate burden of which I hope presently to emerge, in renewal of the good work to which the truth calls everyone who has ears to hear. You are aware that there have risen up among us those who deny that Jesus Christ was God manifest in our condemned nature, for the putting away of sin by the sacrifice of himself. The doctrine thus denied is a vital element of that truth which constitutes the basis of our acceptance with the Father through His Son; consequently its denial is a barrier to fellowship between those who receive and those who reject it.

Unfortunately there are among us a few who have identified themselves with the rejectors of this saving doctrine of the cross, and who seek to force upon us the heresy which they themselves have accepted. It was hoped that time and the testimony so largely adduced within the last three months, would have enabled them to recover themselves from the snare of the devil into which they had fallen; and removed from our midst the unseemly discord which their departure from and resistance to the truth have caused. But this hope becomes less and less likely to be realised; and it becomes necessary for those who hold fast the name, and have not denied the faith, to take that attitude which duty and their own peace and edification and growth in peace require; and that is, to withdraw from all who persist in their rejection of the important element of the truth now in question.