Sir Robert Anderson was born in Dublin, Ireland on Mat 29, 1841 and was of Scottish descent.His father was an elder in the Irish Presbyterian Church and he was raised in a religious home. Anderson's conversion took place after listening to a sermon delivered by John Hall. Anderson described the event:
"[Hall] boldly proclaimed forgiveness of sins, and eternal life as God's gift in grace, unreserved and unconditional, to be received by us as we sat in the pews. His sermon thrilled me, and yet I deemed his doctrine to be unscriptural. So I waylaid him as he left the vestry, and on our homeward walk I tackled him about his heresies ... At last he let go my arm, and, facing me as we stood upon the pavement, he repeated with great solemnity his gospel message and appeal. 'I tell you,' he said, 'as a minister of Christ, and in His name, that there is life for you here and now if you will accept Him. Will you accept Christ, or will you reject Him?' After a pause — how prolonged I know not — I exclaimed, 'In God's name I will accept Christ.' Not another word passed between us; but after another pause he wrung my hand and left me. And I turned homewards with the peace of God filling my heart."
Sir Robert Anderson graduated from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1862 and was called to the Irish Bar in 1863. He later became Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department at Scotland Yard. When he retired in 1901, he was made Knight Commander of the the Order of the Bath. W. H. Smith, on the floor of the House of Commons, said Sir Robert "had discharged his duties with great ability and perfect faithfulness to the public."
Sir Robert has been called a "secret service theologian," because in addition to fighting crime in London he wrote several books on Biblical doctrine. He was close to some of the most well-known teachers of his time, including James M. Gray, C. I. Scofield, A. C. Dixon, E. W. Bullinger, and he preached along with J. N. Darby. Sir Robert was a member of the Plymouth Brethren and later with the Open Brethren. Among his many theological accomplishments, Sir Robert defended the authenticity of the book of Daniel at a time when it was being vigorously attacked.
He wrote many books, some on political subjects but most teaching doctrine.
Sir Robert Anderson died on November 15, 1918.
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Sir Robert Anderson was born in Dublin in 1841. His father was Matthew Anderson who was Crown Solicitor in the Irish capital. His father was considered as a well-known elder in the Irish Presbyterian Church. His home environment was purely Christian and he had lived a religious life. He felt anxiety and regrets during his religious life. When he became a teen-ager, he started thinking that his own conversion is not true. The Irish Revival occurred in 1859-60. His sister was touched during the Irish Revival as she persuaded her brother to join any one of the services that were held in Dublin . (Wiersbe, 278-298) He was very disturbed with the popular hymns and he could not get much out of thier message.EDITED UP TO THIS POINT
He heard the Rev. John Hall when he was attending a service. The sermon was about the proclaiming of forgiveness of sins and about the gift of God to people, that is, eternal life, that is unconditional and unreserved. Sir Robert Anderson was thrilled by that sermon. He approached Rev. John Hall when he was going back. He convinced Sir Robert to accept Christ. And since that time, his heart was filled with the peace of God.
When he finished his school, he started a business as a career but after eighteen months, he left that business despite the excellent future prospects of that business and got admission in Trinity College , Dublin . He earned his B.A. from that college in 1862 with medal and Moderator-ship. Then in 1875, he received the L.L.D. of his Alma Mater.
He was called to the Irish Bar in 1863. There was a secret society, the Fenians that was working for overthrowing British rule in Ireland . He interrogated many prisoners and prepared many legal briefs as he assisted the Irish government. He got married in 1873. His wife, Lady Agnes Moore was a sister of the Earl of Drogheda. She found to be a true helpmeet in all the good works and she was working as a leader in many branches where women’s work was carried out in London .
He was appointed as Irish Agent at the Home Office in 1877 due to his distinguished knowledge about the ways of conspirators. In 1888, he was sent to the Scotland Yard as Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department and Assistant Commissioner of Metropolitan Police. At that time, the ‘Jack the Ripper’ scare was at the peak. The city was full of crimes and criminals at that time. His work decreased the number of crimes to a significant extent in London . He worked till 1901. Then he got retired and was made K.C.B (Knighthood with special distinction).
He wrote about twenty volumes of books. His name will transfer from generation to generation especially his theological volumes in which eternal things are dealt will remain forever. Among his most popular volumes are ‘Criminals and Crime’, ‘The Lighter Side of My Official Life’, and ‘Side Lights on the Home Rule Movement’. All these books relate to the present things.
He had written seventeen books on biblical themes. Among them are his best known ‘The Gospel and Its Ministry’, ‘Human Destiny’ that has been described by C.H. Spurgeon as the most valuable contribution to the topic, ‘The Silence of God’ that was found to help many during the Great War and that had astonished the religious groups in Europe, ‘The Coming Prince’ in which 70 weeks of Daniel are dealt, ‘In defence’, ‘The Hebrews Epistle’, ‘Daniel in the Critics’ Den’, ‘The Bible and Modern Criticism’, ‘The Honor of His Name’, Misunderstood Texts’ and many other volumes. His latest volume ‘The Lord from Heaven’ was highly appreciated as it was the sweetest among all of his work and Miss Catherine Marsh, the Bishop of Durham, Dr. Griffith Thomas and many others had highly commended it. His style is very unique. Firstly, he tracks all the myths and finds religious errors. Then he arrests and exposed them all. He uses these skills and courage in all the volumes that were related to crimes and criminals.
His books are written in such as wonderful manner that brings joy to heart of the reader and enlightens the minds of them too. His books are read more and more and they are generating profit too because he was strong and quite certain about his own beliefs and all his belies were clearly expressed.
Sir Robert Anderson had written in a time when liberal scholarship was taking its place in the seminaries. At that time, Anderson wrote many volumes to strong defend the faith in the Gospel, and Redemption Truths and Its Ministry. He had also found in that time for the literal interpretation of prophecy in many books such as The Coming Prince and Daniel in the Critics’ Den. (Wiersbe 315). Sir Robert Anderson had written the book, ‘The Coming Prince’ with a confidence that Israel will come back into the land. It is extremely excited to know that Anderson had written about the coming back of Israel many decades before the birth of the nation of Israel . But he has written with complete faith that “Israel’s history has yet to be completed; and when that nation comes again upon the scene, the element of miraculous interpositions will mark once more the course of events on earth” (Anderson,167). Anderson had speculated that there is a possibility for the Israel to become annexed by a European state ( Anderson ,167). The reason that he had given for it was that the beginning of the end times would be with “a religious revival among the Jews, to prepare the way for the fulfillment of prophecies” ( Anderson ,169).
Readers sometimes find Sir Robert Anderson’s style as difficult and dense. This is partially due to a wide range of time period in which he had written and partly due to his drawl to detail and due to the complex problems of scripture. It is found that his famous book, ‘The Coming Prince’ appears quite up-to-date. The scholars that were “fritter…away the meaning of plain words” ( Anderson , viii) are easy to be found in every denomination and every seminary now a day. The book ‘The Coming Prince’ is mainly concerned with the future of Israel , the rapture, and the Antichrist. These concerns are the same as those concerns that are being discussed on internet message boards daily. Sir Robert Anderson was able to fore see without any support in his time that is obtained from the world news every day. This resemblance strongly affirms the truth of Bible prophecy. Sir Robert Anderson was still convinced about the Bible prophecy and its literal fulfillment even before the occurrence of World War I in which the Israel was under the control of Turkey and no plans were made by Europe to form a union. (Wiersbe, 315-317)
He was attacked by influenza and after recovery; he worked late night around till 10:30 on November 15 th, 1918 that was his 77 th year. He retired to rest and at 11:00 , he quietly passed away.
List of his volumes is given as:
The Buddha of Christendom, The Coming Prince, Daniel In The Critics’ Den, Forgotten Truths, The Gospel and Its Ministry, The Honor of His Name, Redemption Truths, The Silence of God, Types in Hebrews, Misunderstood Texts of the Bible, Entail of the Convent, Human Destiny, A doubter’s Doubts about Science and Religion, The Bible of the Church, The Way, The Lord From Heaven, Unfulfilled Prophecy, The Resurrection, Christ and Criticism, Sin and the Judgment to Come, Spirit Manifestations and the Gift of Tongues, Election, E.W.Bullinger-letter, A Great Lesson, Reasonableness of the Hope and Daniel The Prophet. (Secret Service Theologian….)
Official Life of Sir Robert Anderson
It can be said that Sir Robert Anderson was drifted towards Secret Service work. He was among those luckiest barristers who did not require any outside support since their beginning and he was quite self-supporting. At that time, there was not Secret Service organization or Intelligence Department at Dublin Castle . All the confidential documents were placed in an office cupboard. Sir Robert Anderson was entrusted by the new Chief Secretary, Lord Naas, for the preparation of all official papers that were related to Fenianism. He prepared a thorough history of Fenian conspiracy that was up-to-date. That history was found to be quite useful to the government and as a result, he was requisitioned again during a Fenian outbreak in 1867. (Wiersbe, 278-298)
The Fenians was the Irish Republican Brotherhood and it was a political association that was made for establishing a republic by overthrowing British authority in Ireland .
His work was temporary in the Civil Service so he did not want to leave his profession. So he was gone to the English Bar time to time but he did not practice law in England . He got access to the detective department of the London Police by Sir Richard Mayne, who was the Commissioner of the London Police at that time. With the help of that access, he became able to know about work of the officers and he gained the goodwill and confidence of the officers. He was greatly attracted by the London life. He was mostly attracted towards the House of Commons where he made a friendship with Captain Gosset, who was Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms at that time. He got access to ‘Gosset’s Room’ that was a social club whose members were only M.Ps. So, Sir Robert became able to meet the elite of the members of the ‘Gosset’s Room’. (Wiersbe, 278-298)
As Sir Robert Anderson was doing his ordinary work in London during his early years, he was also working as secretary to several government commissions. This post helps him a lot in gaining the friendship of Lord Aberdeen, the 7 th Earl. Lord Aberdeen became Governor-General of Canada from 1893-98 and Viceroy of Ireland in 1886 and then from 1906-15. He also served at the position of secretary to the Royal Commission on Loss of Life at Sea. ( Moore , 115)
The Prison Commission was a branch of the permanent Civil Service. Sir Robert Anderson had gained a valuable experience by serving as secretary to the Prison Commission. His experience was found to be extremely useful during his campaigns in which the reforms were demanded for the treatment of criminals and for brining change to the nature of prisons.
1888 was found to be a year of great importance in the history of Ireland as boycotting was declared as a crime that had made turned the life of the victim into a living death. At the same time, the conspirators in England were excited for following suit due to the revival of activities of the Fenians in Ireland . Sir Robert Anderson was again enlisted in Secret Services by the Home Secretary, Sir William Harcourt in those circumstances. Sir Robert Anderson did not find that position interesting to him and he had turned away from it. This happened because he was in touch with some prominent activists of the Fenians in American but he was not in touch with the leader of the organization in Ireland . It was easy for him to find about the London leaders but it was very tough for them to get hold of them. ( Moore , 131)
Reputation is gained by detecting crimes and by the successful prosecution of the offenders. It is not gained only by preventing crimes.
A new Coercion Act was passed as the British Government was galvanized into action by the Phoenix Park murder. Special measures were adopted for the administration of that Act. Under-Secretary-ship was established in Dublin for Police and Crime. Sir William Harcourt pressurized Sir Robert Anderson for the representation of that department in London .
There were many sides to his work at Whitehall at that time. He was still working as Secretary to the Prison Commission. At the same time, the Irish government had retained him for looking after their interests in London . He was given the responsibility to deal with the political crime in general and so he was answerable to the Secretary of State. During the dynamite campaign, Sir Robert Anderson was in touch with Dublin Castle , as well as, he was busy in corresponding with the British Consuls in America and the informants living there. He did not miss any of his duties and despite the huge work load; he kept on meeting the informants in London every week. (Wiersbe, 278-298)
His brother, Sir Samuel Lee Anderson was one of the officials that were marked as to be put out of the way. His life was saved by a chance.
Sir Robert Anderson had kept the names of the informants secret. Because he found that his first informant was shot to death as Sir Robert told his name to Lord Mayo who was the Chief Secretary for Ireland of that time. Lord Mayo passed that information to the Lord-Lieutenant and a servant had listened to that information and passed it on. As a result, the poor informant was found dead. Since that time, Sir Robert Anderson did not tell the names of the informants to anyone because he did not want to betray any of his informants. Sir William Harcourt had objected as Sir Robert Anderson did not give the names of informants. La Caron was among the most popular informants. Sir Anderson had close relationship with La Caron and at last, he had to pay for that relationship. He was charged twice in Parliament. Firstly, he was charged for the transfer of confidential information to an informer when he was the head of the C.I.D. Then secondly, in 1910, Sir Robert Anderson was mentioned in Blackwood. It was mentioned that Sir Robert had written many articles that are related to the American Fenians. Those articles were published without any names in The Times as far back as 1887. This was against the rules and traditions of the Civil Service and so, Sir Robert was accused for it. At that time, the responsible minister of that time did not defend him and take the advantage of the matter by appeasing his opponents. The Minister minimized the services of Sir Robert that he had provided to the state. He received many letters from all over the world that were filled with encouragement and sympathy. ( Moore , 242)
Some Quotes of Sir Robert Anderson
Some quotes of Sir Robert Anderson are taken from his addresses and articles. They are given below:
"If we could only realize that Christ is all, what a power there would be in our Christianity! Remember that if we get near to Christ we shall get near to each other. If a number of people are met in a large room, where the windows look out upon beautiful scenery and everything is an attraction, you will find some will go to the windows, others will gather round the book-cases, others round the fireplace, and so on; but if they are invited there to meet some person of commanding presence and attraction, everything else is forgotten. If Christ had the place in our creed and heart that He ought to have, there would be personal loyalty and personal love, and this is just what He claims."
“Nowhere does the Bible enjoin upon the Christian to become a pilgrim; and, using the word in its spiritual sense, the visit of a Romanist to Rome , for example, is the very antithesis of a 'pilgrimage.' ‘What!' (Our readers will exclaim with indignant surprise) 'Does not the Scripture tell us we ought to become pilgrims?’ The answer is a great big NO. The aim which human religion always sets before its votaries is to gain Divine favor by efforts to become something that they are not; the true effort of the Christian life is to realize and live up to what, by God’s grace, we are. The Christian is a pilgrim; let him see to it that he lives as a pilgrim."
"Here, then, is the answer to the question, 'what is it about?’ The Bible is about Christ. The public facts of His life and death are matters of evidence, and undisputed; but the hidden facts on which faith depends are entirely matters of revelation. For example, no one doubts that 'Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures,’ and the only Scriptures then in existence were those we call the Old Testament. To disparage them, therefore, is to undermine faith, for if they be not what Christ said they were, it is certain that He was not what He declared Himself to be; and, as we have seen, the Kenosis theories of the critics are here of no avail. The real question at issue, therefore, is not the authority of the Bible, but the Deity of Christ, and in defending the Bible "we are contending for our all.’
"You know the First Epistle to the Corinthians, with all its wealth of truth and exhortation, and rebuke and warning. And now the Apostle takes up the pen to sign it: 'The salutation of me, Paul, with mine own hand. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be anathema’; let him be accursed. It is an awful word. I do not think we should use these words first against those who seem to us to come under them, but use them rather by turning them like a searchlight upon our own hearts and lives."
"My eye fell upon an advertisement in The Times to-day. It is headed, ' A religion of common sense,' There is no religion of common sense, but there are plenty of religions of uncommon nonsense. There is a. religion of Divine revelation, and this is what we want."
"The movements I have indicated - and especially the New Theology, Spiritualism and Christian Science - are but divisions of the great army which is even now being marshaled and trained for the terrible struggle of the latter days. What is the distinctive peril of these awfully solemn times? Atheism has been killed by the growth of an enlightened rationalism, as has also the blind and stupid infidelity of Hume. And drunkenness, dishonesty and vice are denounced as earnestly by men of the world as by the Christian. Our distinctive peril is in none of these, but in a subtle kind of spurious Christianity - a cult that teaches the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men, and inculcates a high philanthropy and a pure and charming code of ethics, and that adopts every Christian truth, excepting only what is vital - everything except the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ and redemption by the blood of His cross."