THE INTERWOVEN GOSPELS ~ Robertson L Whiteside ~ Church of Christ ~ Like New !!

Description: *** Please visit my eBay store for many more great selections *** TITLE: "Bible Studies: The Interwoven Gospels" Composed of Bible lessons Whiteside prepared for various publications. They contain the comments of this eminent student of God's word on the books covered. AUTHOR: Robertson L. Whiteside (see bio sketch below !!! ) PUBLISHER: Miss Inys Whiteside BINDING: Softcover PAGES: 592 CONDITION: LIKE NEW. NO MARKS !*** Please visit my eBay store for many more great selections ***Robertson Lafayette Whiteside 1869-1951The Life Of R. L. WhitesideRobertson L. Whiteside, one of the truly great preachers of this century, was born of Luther and Frances Aydelotte Whiteside on the twenty-seventh of December, 1869 in Hickman county in middle Tennessee. The Civil War had ended only a short time before this, and the people of his region had been impoverished by the continual movement of both the Union and Confederate forces through their area. The Whiteside family suffered in this, along with the general population. Eleven children were born to Luther and Frances, and Frances died when R.L. was only twelve years old. We do not have the exact date of his father's death, but do know that R.L. was orphaned fairly early in life. Educational opportunities were limited, even for those with money, but he said that he: "attended school through boyhood three or four months each year, except for two years in his 'teens." At age nineteen he was a student under a noted teacher, R.W. Norwood. In 1890 he was a student in the West Tennessee Christian College, (now Freed-Hardeman,) after this he attended the Nashville Bible school. While at Henderson, G.A. Lewellen was President and A. G. Freed was one of the teachers. Brother Whiteside stayed there only one year, leaving because the Henderson church introduced instrumental music into the worship. Two other young men left with him for the same reason. Unfortunately, we do not have their names. The following year the Nashville Bible School (Now David Lipscomb) was opened and Brother Whiteside was the eleventh to register in the first class of thirty-two. The association here begun with David Lipscomb, James A. Harding and other such men had a profound influence for good throughout his entire life. As all college students do, he also formed lasting friendships with some his own age, including J.N. Armstrong.An older sister, Martha Jane, in early life had been very helpful to him and others in getting across Swan creek on their way to school. At the death of his parents, she had married and had children of her own, but helped with her brothers and sisters. She had married Jack Sisco, a faithful Christian, who farmed the Whiteside place. Such care produced strong family ties that remained throughout life, and R.L. often arranged to visit them in the summer. A Brother Godwin, an elder in the Salem church, preached often in the Linden-Aetna area, and in October, 1888 when R.L. was eighteen years old held a meeting in the Flatrock church. R. L. was among those baptized. We do not know when he decided to be a gospel preacher, but it was probably about this time. He actually began preaching when he was twenty years old. In the Nashville Bible School he came under the influence of David Lipscomb, an influence that was to remain and bless him throughout life. After moving to Texas, he often returned to Tennessee and following one of these trips made the following report: "While in Tennessee I was in the office of the Gospel Advocate a few times, and saw those grand old soldiers of The Cross, Brother David Lipscomb and Brother E. G. Sewell. Both are growing old and feeble, and will soon join the hosts on the other shore. They have both been towers of strength in The Church, especially in Tennessee. In my estimation Brother Lipscomb is the greatest approach to the ideal Christian that I have ever known."On February 8, 1893 he was married to Miss Ruth Weatherly, daughter of James and Rebecca Weatherly of Cathey's Creek in nearby Maury county. Ten children were born to them, three of whom were living when this sketch was first published in The Christian Worker in August, 1980. Soon after their marriage they moved to Texas, where several of their relatives had already moved. They settled on a farm in Dallas county, near Cedar Hill and he preached as he had opportunity, averaging about a hundred sermons a year for the first few years. In the years 1893-1900 he kept a record of his preaching work and the support he received. The support was seldom more than the expense of getting to and from the appointment, and was often less. In 1895 he returned to Nashville to get some more schooling. By this time they had two children, and even though Ruth washed and ironed clothes for the students, the financial load was unbearable, and after one year they returned to Texas. In 1902 he began work with the Corsicana church, and continued for nearly seven years. The church prospered under his teaching, and he here began his lifelong work of writing on Bible themes, at first doing most of this work for the Firm Foundation. He became widely and favorably known as a faithful and sound preacher of The Word. Personal modesty kept him from saying much about his own work, so many things about it that we would now like to know cannot now be known. He once gave the following account of the work in general, and remember that this was in the time when the "digressives" were making all kinds of trouble. "Cheering reports come from the field. Congregations are being established, new houses of worship are being erected, and good Christian schools are springing up all over the land. Let us be encouraged. Bright prospects are before us. Thank The Lord. Now let us possess the land."In 1908 he moved to Abilene to preach for the College Congregation, the only one there at the time, and to teach Bible in the Christian Classical Institute, now, Abilene Christian University. His support was to be twelve dollars and fifty cents per week, but in those days preachers preached to serve and usually expected to make their living "tent-making." A.R. Barnett, the first President of the school resigned to become President of Southland University (Southwestern Christian College) in Denton. After some efforts to find a suitable head for the Abilene school, Brother Whiteside, who was already teaching Bible there, was named President. Due to his favorable and wide acquaintance with the churches in Texas, he was able to keep the school going, but the financial problems of his predecessors became a very difficult task for him. However, in spite of these problems some significant changes were made. Attendance increased and the school began to offer college level work for the first time. There had been a rather "loose arrangement" of a "preacher's meeting," and he sought to improve it by bringing C. R. Nichol and Price Billingsley to the campus for special Bible lectures in the months of January and February. These lectures were a significant step in the development of the present day "Abilene Lectureship." In 1909 he began a three year program for those who wished to obtain a teacher's certificate, and for the first time the school offered the Bachelor's degree. He was offered the Presidency for the third year, but declined it. After resigning the Presidency, he stayed with the school for some years under James F. Cox and Jesse P. Sewell as a Bible teacher, and served some of the time as Vice President. He found time to continue his preaching and writing, and to the end of his life was glad that he had had a personal involvement in Christian education. A personal letter to Don Morris in 1949, which tells much of his years at Abilene, follows:"Those were hard years in West Texas. I remember that 1907 was a pretty good crop year, but we had another drought in 1908, and you know that the effects of a bad drought hold on for a long time after the drought is broken. In spite of these difficulties, I remember that we had a total of 160 pupils to enroll during the first year that I was President. In spite of the hard times, the kids loved to sing. It was a singing school then. We had a male quartet in the year of 1909-'10. Claude Sikes, a present faculty member, was one of the four.I know A.C.C. has good congregational singing now, but it was good then, too. Henry Free was the regular leader, and I believe that he was the best congregational song leader that I ever heard.Of course I was faced with the same battles that my predecessors had. The only income for teacher's salaries and for our own living was out of tuition. If there weren't enough students, or if they couldn't pay, it was the teachers and the administration who were hurt.The first year I was President, we could not even guarantee a set salary to the teacher; just say we felt we could pay them a living wage. It was common for me to work from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. those first months of my tenure, and sometimes I would go without lunch. My wife kept boarders and this paid our food bill. I also preached for the College congregation, and the small salary they paid me was a great help. But times got worse, rather than better, and The Church could no longer pay me a regular salary, but gave me what was left when the incidentals had been paid. Mrs. Whiteside and I had three children in school then, and we were both then, and are now, firm believers in Christian education being the only kind of an education. We had no dormitories for the students then, and of course the students boarded in homes, ours especially. Though there was only one congregation of The Church then in Abilene, the town had grown to the point where it seemed it was time to start another. Brother G. C. Helvy and I rented a sheet iron building over on the South side and helped start another congregation. The students were interested in this project, and were a great help."In 1914 he moved to Denton, Texas to preach for the Pearl Street church which he served until 1920. Through these years he conducted many gospel meetings, continued his writing, and engaged in a number of debates, both written and oral. From 1926 to 1928 he preached for the Furman Avenue church in Corpus Christi, Texas. Though he was away from Denton, it seemed he always returned there, and it was there in 1930's and 1940's that he did much of the research and writing for which he is now so well known. In the 1930's he did much writing for the Gospel Advocate, first, under the heading, "Doctrinal Discourses," and later as queries Editor. Through many years he prepared much of the Bible school material for the Advocate, often working with H. Leo Boles. Through the years he literally wrote hundreds of articles which were published in the Firm Foundation, the Gospel Advocate, Bible Banner, Gospel Guardian, Christian Preacher, Gospel Guide, Texas Preacher, The Way, and possibly others. He and C. R. Nichol co-authored the first four volumes of Sound Doctrine, a series of Bible lessons that remain useful and popular to this day. He also published a number of books, including: "A Review of the Kingdom of God" by R. H. Boll, "Doctrinal Discourses," "The Kingdom of Promise and Prophecy," "Reflections", and his great "Commentary on Paul's Letter to the Saints in Rome". The Whiteside-Clark debate on the Sunday School question and others. Most of this work is still available. Many of our best Bible students think his Commentary on Romans is the best thing available on this very important book.Brother Whiteside was a very busy man throughout life. His preaching took him throughout Texas, into New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. All these years he was doing an immense amount of writing and often debating. He lived in a time when The Church had to struggle for every inch gained, and weak preachers simply could not survive. He found time to moderate for Foy E. Wallace, Jr., in all his debates with the pre-millennialists, except the one in California. He once said: "I was born into a fight." He was born soon after the Civil War ended, and much of that strife continued throughout his early life. Religious differences were strong and strict lines were drawn, often with much bitterness. Most Christians of our time cannot conceive of the prejudice and bitterness with which the word “Campbellite” was once freely used, and sometimes still is. Of this and the growth of the New Testament church in the area where he grew up, he once wrote: "In spite of bitter and unreasoning opposition, the number of believers gradually increased. At the age of eighteen I was baptized in Swan Creek by Brown Godwin. I was born into a fight. About a half a mile up the creek was an old Methodist church; beyond that, perhaps a mile and a half, was a Cumberland Presbyterian church; a mile or two beyond that was another Methodist church. Down the other way, less than a quarter of a mile from Salem was a Primitive Baptist church; on a small tributary of Swan was a sort of hybrid Baptist church. About three or four miles down the creek was another Methodist church. It was the farthest away of any of them, but close enough to do some long distance fighting. I think about the time I came on the stage of action, these churches reached their climax of bitterness against us. An old lady said: The Campbellites are worse than the devil. The Bible says, "resist the devil and he will flee from you." "But you resist a Campbellite, and he will flee right at you." "So we had to fight or give up."Brother Whiteside was a man of strong conviction. While a student under David Lipscomb, he sometimes differed with Brother Lipscomb's interpretation of a passage. Though he respected Brother Lipscomb, perhaps above any man, he did not hesitate to express his views. Brother Lipscomb was also an honest and humble man of conviction, and he was known to abandon his position and adopt that of the student. Brother Whiteside and N.L. Clark were close personal friends, though they differed to the point of public discussion on the Sunday School question. (This debate is still in print.) In spite of this, they remained close friends to the end of life, with Brother Clark often visiting Brother Whiteside after he became ill. Recently, after starting work on this article, I was in a group of preachers, some of whom had known Brother Whiteside personally. I asked them, since I never met him, what kind of a person he was. They all spoke of him in the most complimentary terms, calling him a faithful Christian, an humble man, and a real gentleman in every respect.Brother Whiteside's health began to fail in 1944. He went to the Scott-White Clinic in Temple, Texas, where he stayed in the home of Cled Wallace, who was preaching in Temple, while tests were being made. It was learned that he had heart trouble, and from it he never recovered. He was confined to his home, often to his bed, for the rest of the time. He suffered much, but never complained to visitors about his own problems, but talked with them about The Church and its problems. Like the great Apostle Paul, "the care of all the churches" was his constant concern. He continued his writing, often doing so while propped up in bed. Though the physical man grew weaker, the spiritual and mental powers did not fail. Finally, late on Friday afternoon, January 5, 1951, The Lord saw fit to release him from this body of clay. "By reason of strength" he had passed the four score mark in age. On Monday, January 8, the final service was held in the Pearl Street meeting house. A large crowd gathered, including gospel preachers from far and near. Cled and Foy E. Wallace, Jr., along with Hulen Jackson, and perhaps others, conducted the service, and he was laid to rest in the I.O.O.F. cemetery in Denton, Texas. On February 28, 1964 his beloved Ruth followed him into the better world, and she sleeps by his side.It is difficult to assess the life of any gospel preacher, and certainly that of Brother Whiteside. He was such an unusual man with such a vast knowledge of the Bible, and such ability to reason and think about it. His accomplishments were definitely out of the ordinary. Brother Cled Wallace wrote of him: "He successfully served as President of Abilene Christian College for two years. He ministered to some of the strongest as a preacher, spending five successive years with The Church in Denton, where he lived for many years. He has engaged in a number of oral and written debates, was always confident and at ease and the cause of Christ prospered as a result of each discussion. His deportment has always been that of a gentleman in debate as on all occasions. For a number of years he wrote the Annual Commentary on the Bible school lessons published by the Gospel Advocate. For some ten years he served as Query Editor of the Gospel Advocate, and was otherwise a contributor to that paper. He is a veteran writer and widely recognized as a very able one." Anyway he is viewed, he was truly one of the greatest gospel preachers of his time. May God bless his memory and his influence that will surely live through his great writing. -From Gospel Preachers Of Yesteryear, Loyd L. White, c.1986, pages 411-417 keyword church of christ, christian, christ, christian church, disciples of christ, church history, sermons, church poetry, christian poetry, RESTORATION MOVEMENT

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