CHARLES H. WELCH
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written, a welcome visiting teacher was Mr. George E. Page, whose lectures on `The attributes of God' were a
wonderful help to a young beginner. In the year 1947 (that is forty years afterward) Mr. Page wrote to me, having
come across some of my writings, and remembered the name of the young man who was always so full of questions.
Mr. Page had compiled a summary of the life of Archibald Brown to mark the centenary of his birth in 1844, and
told me that he still possessed the pulpit diary used by Archibald Brown on that Sunday in December 1908, wherein
he noted his subject `The nobility of the Bereans'. This was a happy combination of remembrances, both of an old
and respected teacher and of the incident so intimately connected with the naming of the magazine. The ministry of
Archibald Brown at the Metropolitan Tabernacle lasted from June 16th, 1907 until December 18th, 1910, and the
closing entries in his diary read:
Ephesians 3:21
`Unto Him be glory'
Acts 20:24
`The Ministry Received',
and the reader will see a peculiar significance in these texts as they think of the nobility of the Bereans, and The
Berean Expositor, although of course Archibald Brown to the end of his days was a Calvinistic Baptist.
The first page of the first number of The Berean Expositor opens the witness with the following headlines:
Acts 28: 17-31
ITS BEARING UPON THE PRESENT DISPENSATION
An introductory study to prepare the way for future expositions on vital dispensational subjects
We have travelled far since these words were printed in February, 1909, and some of our findings have been
modified and expanded, but this great Dispensational Landmark, and its bearing upon the two groups of Paul's
epistles, has been the chart and compass of all our subsequent teaching, and all our subsequent exposition has been
but the logical outcome of this one great fact. If we have contributed nothing of value since, we believe that this
note which was then struck was a note in harmony with the Divine Purpose; and we have had the joy of knowing
that in spite of weakness and great opposition, that note has sounded round the whole world, and that numbers in
every continent bless the day when first they heard the joyful sound. In subsequent articles, the biographical
character of this series will give place to the doctrinal, and we hope to trace the Lord's unfolding of His truth during
the intervening years. It will be impossible, however, not to refer at times to personal circumstances for these are as
much interwoven with the revelation of the Mystery, as the early epistles of Paul are interwoven with the history of
the Acts period.
I WENT INTO ARABIA
The endeavour to qualify as an Art Master, and so be able to earn a decent living, accompanied as it was by lack
of funds, and necessarily poor living, ultimately collapsed, when a revisal of the qualifications necessary to gain the
Art Master Certificate was introduced and all hope of