And they found it written.
by: Graham Burchell

The years between 1775 and 1825 were years of turmoil and great dissatisfaction. The results of the Industrial revolution were being felt socially. People moved from the country into urban areas creating great poverty. Child labour was rampant. Political upheaval had been caused by the French and the American revolutions. Europe was recovering from the reign of Napoleon after his defeat at Trafalgar and subsequently at Waterloo. (Interestingly enough, the uncertainty of the times reawakened a concern about prophesy)

In the areas of philosophy and religion there was also turmoil. Tom Paine published the “Rights of Man” encouraging the idea that reason was god, a sort of nineteenth century New Age. The two main religious bodies which had held sway for centuries were being challenged by the Dissenters, followers of the Wesleys, Whitfield, Calvin and others. The former had little regard for the teaching of Scripture and while the latter were, in many cases, evangelical, but the ideas of their founders seemed to be as important as the Word of God. In fact , 1776, in particular, was described as the low point of infidelity and laxity of doctrine.

Against this background, the Spirit of God began working in the hearts of men, creating a desire to study the Scriptures. They began meeting together in small groups in different parts of the United Kingdom and other places throughout the world. One such group met in Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin, Ireland in 1829. One of these men would later write, “What was to be done? The Word declares to us that where two or three are gathered together to the name of the Lord Jesus, He will be in the midst. This is what we have done. There were only four of us to do it at first; not, I hope, in a spirit of pride and presumption, but deeply grieved at seeing the state of that which surrounds us, praying for all Christians, and recognising all who possess the spirit of God.”

The four who met at Dublin were Francis Hutchison ,(in whose house they met.) J. N. Darby, J. G. Bellett, and Edward Cronin. Little is known of Francis Hutchison, he died shortly afterwards..
J. N. Darby had passed into Oxford at the age of 15 and graduated with the Classical Gold Medal at the Age of 19. He practised as a lawyer for a while, but in 1829 was a curate in the Church of Ireland. Subsequently he would translate the Bible into English, French, and German, one of the best one-man translations available. J. G. Bellett was also a lawyer. He wrote such beautiful devotional books such as “The Moral Glories of the Lord Jesus” and “The Son of God, “ the latter being republished recently, some 150 years or more after its writing. Edward Cronin was a converted Catholic who practised as a Medical doctor.

Their chief aim was to exhibit, in a scriptural way, the common brotherhood of all believers. They recognised no special membership. That they belonged to Christ was the only term of communion; that they loved one another was the power of their fellowship. In principle, it embraced all whose faith and walk showed that they had spiritual life.

Other men joined the movement. A. N. Groves, George Muller, Lord Congleton are among the more well known. Other prominent men followed the principles of these early groups; General Halliday, the senior General in the Indian army, General Sir Arthur Cotton, who designed the irrigation scheme in Northern India still working today, Sir Robert Anderson the head of Scotland Yard at the time of Jack the Ripper and writer of many books on our shelves even today, and in later years, Lt-General Sir William Dobbie, Governor of Malta in the Second World War. In the early years many military and naval men resigned their commissions to follow the teaching of the New Testament; they were joined by members of the British aristocracy, Groups sprang up in the States, Germany, Italy, and India. (One of the largest of these [over a 1,000] was found in Plymouth, England, hence the nickname, Plymouth Brethren.)

As these men studied the Scriptures, they found many things at variance with the church practises around them. Such as:-
That membership of the church of Christ was on the basis of personal salvation alone.
That baptism was not for infants or church membership, but a personal act of confession of Jesus Christ as Lord.
That it was important to meet as a local group or church to participate in the celebration of the Lord’s supper. This was done weekly following the apostolic example.
That there was no need for a special class of priests, but that individual believers could exercise the privilege of entering the presence of God through the finished work of the Lord Jesus.
That the financing of the work of the Lord was the responsibility of the believers in any local area, and that funds were not to be solicited from unbelievers or raised through lotteries or garage sales.
That church government was placed in the hands of elders assisted by deacons, not in a special privileged class.
They re-discovered the glorious truth of the Rapture and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus.

Initially these men were reluctant to leave their regular churches but met on a Saturday night to participate in the Lord’s supper and then attended their own churches on Sunday. Eventually they met separately, hiring halls to hold gospel meetings, for they were fiercely evangelical. The first missionaries from the group went to Baghdad in 1832.

In 1843, someone wrote, “these were delightful times, so sweet in their simplicity. The fruit of the Spirit was in evidence. Whatever under-currents were at work, they threw nothing to the surface. But this was too fair a scene for Satan to contemplate, and he must by some means mar its beauty and desolate its loveliness.”

He was right. Problems between Darby and F. W. Newton arose over church leadership. Darby held that Newton was in error, and although the latter withdrew his error, the problem continued. Eventually it would cause differences between Darby and Muller. History refers to it as the
“Bethesda” question. Darby favoured a central control whereas Muller contended that the elders in each individual assembly were responsible to the Lord for that assembly.

So from 1848, those assemblies who refused to follow Mr. Darby, and continued to receive all believers who were personally sound in doctrine and morals, became known as the “Open” brethren, the others being known as the “Exclusive” brethren. While the “Open” brethren assemblies differ in some ways from each other, in general, they reject the idea of the linking of assemblies together in circles or confederacies as unscriptural. They welcome and desire the fullest fellowship of all the Lord’s people, but they believe that each assembly is primarily responsible to God as to its reception of believers, church order and discipline.

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