The Brethren were now divided. Those who remained firm on the ground originally occupied by Brethren were more decided in their testimony than ever. Pamphlets full of strong feeling and strong expressions, rapidly appeared. The rulers of Bethesda were gravely charged with having ensnared the congregation into a course of neutrality with regard to the heresy, with independency as to the church; and, consequently, with indifference as to the Person and glory of Christ.
Having made these charges, the Brethren could not consistently receive to the Lord’s table from the Bethesda gatherings without being satisfied as to repentance on these points. But much grace and compassion are needed in dealing with such applications now, as many are honestly ignorant of what took place some hundred and thirty years ago. The paper of “The Ten,” however, on which the charges were founded, has never been withdrawn. Hard terms were used on both sides; but some remained faithful to their principles, or rather, maintained the truth of God, as they had hitherto preached and published it, at all cost. Still, the cry of exclusivism was raised against them. While this term was no doubt meant as one of reproach, and intended, or used, to frighten the timid, as it is to this day, it is unquestionably in accordance with the word of God. In 1 Cor. 5, we learn that the assembly must be exclusive if it would maintain a wholesome discipline and keep the house of God clean enough for His presence. Surely the church is solemnly responsible to judge the doctrine and ways of all who present themselves for communion, and to refuse those who would bring evil into the assembly; and to put away those who have fallen into error or immorality, though their faith in Christ may not be doubted. This is exclusivism.
This was the principle on which the Brethren acted from the beginning; so that they were not more exclusive after the division than before it. The change was all on the other side. The new motto on the standard of the Open, or Neutral, Brethren was, “The blood of the Lamb is the union of the saints.” Certainly there could be no union without the precious blood of God’s spotless Lamb, but the scripture teaches that the blood is the ground of peace, not the center of union: the roasted Lamb, the Christ that had passed through the holy fire of divine justice for us, now risen and glorified, is the center of union. (Ex. 12). And are there not many who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb that are unfit for the Lord’s table from their evil associations and ways? But were this motto to be thoroughly carried out, then, on no ground, and for no reason whatsoever, could anyone be excluded from the Lord’s table who is believed to be a child of God and washed in the blood of Christ. Discipline would be at an end, and, as it was in Israel when there was no king, every man doing that which was right in his own eyes. Because of this wide and open door to the Lord’s table, the Bethesda gatherings have been called “The Open Brethren.” So that for the sake of distinction, and to give the least possible offense, we will adhere to the terms, “The Brethren,” and “The Open Brethren.”
The Testimony
From this time the path of each has been perfectly distinct and widely apart. The Open Brethren have fraternized with the denominations and in many things come so near to them that they have escaped persecution. Indeed, the bitterest attacks against the Brethren have come from them, so that in this many of them are one with the denominations and have helped them on in their opposition. But, thank God, they have been zealous in the work of the gospel; and by this means many of their meetings have been increased by simple believers who know nothing of the past troubles, or the present ground of fellowship. May their hearth in simplicity be nourished with Christ and with the truth as it is in Him!
The division seems to have increased the ministry of those who stood fast. Their books and tracts on the most important and vital truths of scripture were widely spread over this country, and indeed, over all Christendom, carrying divine light and blessing to thousands of precious souls. It was also observed that there was more clearness, fullness, and definiteness in their teaching after the division than before it, especially as to the heavenly relations of the church, the union of Christians with Christ in the glory, the rapture of the saints before the tribulation, &c., &c., for although all these truths were held in principle, they had never been preached with the same freshness and power.
The Results of the Testimony
The effect of this testimony was felt everywhere. Many earnest Christians in various places, feeling the dead state of things around them, were led to read these books and to search the scriptures as to whether the new doctrines were in accordance with the word of God. Numbers were convinced of their soundness, left their different denominations, and united with the Brethren. And as it was generally the most spiritual, earnest, and intelligent members who did so, their secession was the more conspicuous, and the more irritating to their ministers. This has been the source of many bitter attacks, which are not necessary for us to speak of now. The work is of God, and vain is man’s puny arm stretched out against it. Grievous as it is to say it, their own quarrels have done far more harm to them, than all the attacks of the enemies. But we believe it is God’s own testimony in these last and evil days, and notwithstanding the terrible failure of those who seek to carry it on, God has not forsaken them.
For several years after the division, they seem to have been more occupied with practical truth for Christians than with the gospel for lost souls outside. This, we believe, was of God. Like the apostle who “went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia, in order, strengthening all the disciples,” they believed it was their bounden duty to strengthen the souls of the disciples after the shaking and unsettling through which they had passed. Still the gospel was preached, and souls were blessed, and the open-air work went on well.
About the year 1854-5, a very blessed work of God’s Spirit began in the conversion of the children of His saints in London There had been prayer for this special work for some time, and the Lord answered it in manifested blessing. In some cases, the whole household was converted, both children and servants; and many young people in many families were brought to know the Lord. The reality of the work at that time was most happily proved by not a few of those who were then converted becoming earnest preachers of the gospel, and sisters as well as brothers, have turned out hearty workers, and have thereby brought others into the field. The work of the gospel was greatly helped during the Revival of 1859.
The Opinion of a Less Prejudiced Writer
Mr. Marsden, incumbent of St. Peter’s, Birmingham, in his “Dictionary of Christian Churches and Sects,” says, in part, of the Brethren, (not later than 1854): “Professing neither to teach nor practice anything but the religion of the gospel in its primitive simplicity and purity, their aim is, naturally, to show that other churches are more or less in error, trusting chiefly for the defense of their own peculiarities to the letter of the New Testament.
“The Brethren equally object to the national church, and to all forms of dissent. Of national churches one and all of them, they say, ‘that the opening of the door to receive the whole population of a country into the solemn acts of worship and Christian fellowship, is a latitudinarian error. Dissenters, on the other hand, are sectarian, because they close the door on real Christians who cannot utter the Shiboleth of their party. In a word, the characteristic evil of the latter is, that they do not treat as Christians many who are known to be such, whereas the equally characteristic evil of the former is, that they do treat as Christians many who are known not to be such at all.’ The one system, they affirm, makes the church wider, the other narrower than God’s limits; thus, in either way, the proper scriptural idea of the church is practically destroyed, dissent virtually affirming that it is not one body but many, while nationalism virtually affirms that this one body is the body of Christ.
“That which constitutes a church is the presence of the Holy Spirit. ‘It is the owning of the Holy Ghost as Christ’s vicar―the really present, sole, and sufficient sovereign in the church during our Lord’s absence, which is our special responsibility, and ought to be a leading feature in our testimony.’ Scripture, say the Brethren, never prescribes a human commission as necessary for the Christian minister. Doctrine, not ordination, is the divine test of rejecting or receiving those who profess to be ministers of Christ: and every Christian man who can do so is not only at liberty but is bound to preach the gospel. The parable of the talents, in Matt. 25, teaches the danger of waiting for other warrant than the possession of the necessary gift: ‘and to doubt the grace of the Master, or to fear because one has not the authentication of those who presumptuously claim and trifle with this right, is to bury his talent in the earth, and to act the part of the wicked and slothful servant.’ For the Lord of the harvest alone has the title to send forth laborers.
“We have only to add that the doctrines held by the Plymouth Brethren agree in all essentials with the Church of England and other churches of the Reformation. Their worship is conducted in the simplest manner. Circumstances apart, any brother is competent to baptize or to ‘break the bread,’ that is, administer the Lord’s Supper. They deny, however, that all Christians are ministers of the Word, or that they undervalue a Christian ministry. ‘So far,’ say they, ‘from supposing there is no such thing as ministry, Brethren hold, and have always held, from Eph. 4:12,1312For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:12‑13), that Christ cannot fail to maintain and perpetuate a ministry so long as His body is here below.’ Their printed books and tracts, their teachings in private and public affirm this as a certain settled truth; insomuch that it is as absurd to charge them with denying the permanent and divine place of ministry in the church on earth, as it would be to charge Charles I. with denying the divine right of kings. Wherever it has pleased God to raise up pastors after His own heart, they gladly, thankfully own His grace, and esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.
“We infer, that a minister is received as such when the Brethren are satisfied of his fitness for the office; but that he then obtains no other distinction or authority than that of a teacher or exhorter. It has been recently said that they neither pray for the pardon of sin, nor for the presence and influence of the Spirit, and carefully exclude such petitions from their hymns; but this statement, which we transcribe from a recent account of ‘Christian Sects in the Nineteenth Century,’ is extremely unjust. It is only true, so far as this: the Brethren, regarding themselves as, in theological language, in a state of grace, do not ask for blessings they have already received, but rather for an increase of the gifts of which they have already a portion.”
The reader will do well to put himself in possession of a tract, entitled, “One Body and one Spirit,” by Mr. W. Kelly. It is from this paper that Mr. Marsden has gathered all his thoughts and information respecting Brethren. And though we may not agree with all he says in the article as a whole, we cannot fail to notice the fair and gracious spirit in which it is written: very different from some others from which we might quote.