Plymouth Brethren

Plymouth Brethren, a community of Christians who received the name in 1830 when the Rev. J. N. Darby induced many of the inhabitants of Plymouth; England, to associate themselves with him for the promulgation of his opinions. Although small Christian communities existed in Ireland and elsewhere calling themselves Brethren, and holding similar views, the accession to the ranks of Darby so increased their numbers and influence that he is usually reckoned the founder of Plymouthism. Darby (born in Nov. 1800 in London; graduated at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1819; died April 29, 1882, at Bournemouth) was a curate in Wicklow 1825-1827,1827, when he felt himself constrained to leave the Anglican communion; going to Dublin, he became associated with several devout people who met statedly for public worship, and called themselves "Brethren." Among these were A. N. Groves and J. G. Bellett, who deserve to rank among the founders of the movement. In 1830 Darby at Plymouth won over many people to his way of thinking, among them James L. Harris, a Plymouth clergyman, and the well-known Biblical scholar Samuel Prideaux Tregelles. The Brethren started a periodical, The Christian Witness, continued from 1849 as The Present Testimony, with Harris as editor and Darby as the most important contributor. During the next eight years the progress of the sect was rapid, and communities were founded in many of the principal towns in England.

In 1838 Darby went to reside in French Switzerland, and made many disciples. Congregations were formed in Geneva, at Lausanne, where most of the Methodist and other dissenters joined the Brethren, at Vevey and elsewhere in Vaud. His opinions also found their way into France, Germany, German Switzerland, and Italy; but French Switzerland has always remained the stronghold of Plymouthism on the Continent, and for his followers there Darby wrote two of his most important tracts, Le Ministere considere dans sa nature and De la Presence et de l'action du S. Esprit dans l'eglise. The revolution in the canton Vaud, brought about by Jesuit intrigue in 1845, brought persecution to the Brethren in the canton and in other parts of French Switzerland, and Darby's life was in great jeopardy.

He returned to England, and his reappearance was followed by divisions among the Brethren at home. These divisions began at Plymouth. Benjamin Wills Newton, head of the community there, who had been a fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, was accused of departing from the testimony of the Brethren by reintroducing the spirit of clericalism. Unable to detach the congregation from the teacher, Darby began a rival assembly. The majority of the Brethren out of Plymouth supported Darby, but a minority remained with Newton. The separation became wider in 1847 on the discovery of supposed heretical teaching by Newton. In 1848 another division took place. The Bethesda congregation at Bristol, where George Muller was the most influential member, received into communion several of Newton's followers and justified their action. Out of this came the separation into Neutral Brethren, led by Muller, and Exclusive Brethren or Darbyites, who refused to hold communion with the followers of Newton or Muller. The Exclusives, who were the more numerous, suffered further divisions. An Irish clergyman named Samuel O'Malley Cluff had adopted views similar to those of Pearsall Smith, who preached a doctrine of sanctification called "Death to Nature" as an antidote to the supposed prevalent Laodiceanism, and when these were repudiated seceded with his followers.

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