Robert Roberts, Methodist Preacher

Roberts was born in Chester in 1831, to a farming family, but his parents died when he was young, and he was apprenticed to a wheelwright. Roberts says he was a member of the Established Church [Church of England] but he did not understand the prayers, preaching, scripture, or homilies [standard sermons forming the doctrine of the Churhc of England]. Nonetheless, he believed, felt that it was a good thing to be regular in church, to the extent that even though he had not saving faith, he was considered to be a good man, even "better than others." He was conscious, however, of sin, of the normal state of mankind as wicked, with a deceitful heart.

In his early 20s, he heard some Methodist preaching here and there, but he was afraid of being persecuted or having people laugh at him for being with the Methodists. He also worried though, about the way people spoke of the Methodists, for he knew them to be serious people. And because of the general disapproval of the Methodists, he would not join them as long as he was in his own hometown. He said that his work might take him to London, where no one would know him and then he could be a Methodist!

Nonetheless, he did venture to hear a Methodist preacher, and his soul was awakened to his need for God and the possibility that the divine, saving grace might be his. He asked to be admitted to a society. He was examined by a preacher as to "the state of my mind, my motives, etc..." [What! Standards for membership! Now I daresay most pastors would balk at not only examining anyone for membership, but also what such examination implies: some people must be denied membership. I have yet to hear a credible defense as to why we have drifted so far from our roots.]

"And now I met with what I expected, namely, persecutions from relatives, friends and neighbors; and wherever I went, some railed and others cursed me and one said it would no more be a sin to kill me than it would to kill a mad dog. Sometime in August of 1754, Roberts found peace with God. But he also experienced a deeper knowledge that even after coming to Christ for salvation, he still had need of Christ. That is, forgiveness of sin is one thing, but power over sin's continuing influence is another. Roberts began to earnestly seek this "second blessing."

He was eventually placed as a class leader, and was a fellow who would fill in if a preacher could not get to the area. While his spiritual life improved, and he was a fruitful lay leader, his temporal affairs suffered as, "the people [in town] agreed not to employ me [as a wheelwright] because I was a Methodist."

Roberts labored for 40 years in the Lord's Vineyard, 20 years in, he wrote to Wesley, "If it were my right to choose any line of work, I would rather be a Methodist precher than anything else."

"Ever since I began to preach, I have been convinced of the extent of the Atonement, believing that Christ tasted death for every man, and that there is a day of grace for all of Adam's descendants, a door of salvation, and that if they knock, it will be opened to them."

Roberts' biography is found in vol. 4 of Wesley's Veterans.