The Story of “The Brethren.’’

l HAVE read with considerable interest Mr. W. Blair Neatby’s “History of the Plymouth Brethren,” and various reviews of the same. One thing has struck me very painfully in nearly all these writings—the almost entire omission of the Spirit of God. Men and their unhappy doings have been made prominent; God has been left out. I admit the difficulty in writing on ecclesiastical subjects, whether the whole Church of God is in question, or a particular section of it. A normal condition of things, in which the servants of God quietly pursue their labours, with, perhaps, the happiest results, yields out little matter for the historian; times of upheaval and controversy yield much more. Hence, it happens that most ecclesiastical histories are occupied far more with the clamour of heretics and the efforts of faithful men in withstanding them, than with ordinary spiritual operations, in which, in reality, the true life of the Church of God is found. 
DIVINE ORIGIN OF THE MOVEMENT. 
In saying this, I have no thought whatever of defending “The Brethren” as a community, nor of extenuating their faults. I desire simply to suggest that the movement which has been thus marred, was in its inception, the work of the Spirit of God. The Divine object, I doubt not, was to recall the Church to a truer sense of its heavenly character and hope, to the reality of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, and to elevate the tone of Christian life in general. Large numbers of Christians outside of ‘‘The Brethren”—both clerical and lay—are quite prepared to admit the truth of what I have stated. With many, the break-up of “Brethrenism” is no matter of exultation, but of the keenest disappointment. Their hope was that by means of this movement, some deliverance would be wrought in the earth, and that a safe refuge would be provided for troubled souls fleeing from the storms of fundamental error which are now devastating the Church at large. 
Now, the fact of a movement having failed through human infirmity and sin, is no proof that the movement, as such, is not Divine. It has been man’s unhappy lot to mar everything that God has committed to him from the very beginning of his history. This could easily be shown from Scripture, but I will not trespass upon your space. Leaving other dispensations side, and confining ourselves to the Church period, was not the movement that began on the Day of Pentecost Divine? Yet what was its condition within half a century? Not only had love and zeal grown cold, but strifes and doctrinal errors filled the air. 
MARRED IN THE HANDS OF MEN. 
Take the Reformation in the sixteenth century. Most Protestants recognise that the hand of God was in it. (I say ‘‘most” advisedly, for many in this day who are nominally Protestants now see nothing Divine in the movement at all). But though the Reformation was a marked operation of God’s Spirit, was it not disfigured by the most humiliating controversies? Who has not read of the Sacramental differences between the followers of Luther and of Zwinglius, the feeling between the parties being so terrible, that godly men refused to have communion the one with the other? Who is not aware of the bitter dissensions about church order and forms among the English refugees at Frankfort and elsewhere, while their brethren at home were shedding their blood for the faith? Is not the fact patent to all that these and later contentions led ultimately to the establishment of hostile denominations, which remain, at least in their distinctness, to this day? The Romanist would have us believe that these disorders are the natural result of separation from Catholic unity, and that they prove the Reformation to have been a colossal blunder; but what thoughtful Protestant would accept such a conclusion? 
I suggest, therefore, that the movement which began so simply in or about 1828 was emphatically a movement of the Spirit of God but marred in the hands of men. This ruin has not been brought about through the absence of “system,” but because there has been too much “system.” This I have endeavoured to show in the pamphlet on “Fellowship in Closing Days,” referred to by Mr. Neatby towards the close of his book. Yet though, as an organization, ‘‘Brethrenism” is broken up, and much of its power has gone; the fact should be remembered that the published works of its many writers remain, and are to-day, as they have been for many years, the greatest spiritual help and blessing to those who read them. Pious ministers of various denominations have frequently confessed to me, both in this country and abroad, that the works in question have been invaluable to them in their own spiritual life, and in their ministry. 
Brethren have failed and failed deeply. I own it with sorrow and shame; but I cannot suffer human defection to shut out from my vision the bright operation and testimony of the faithful Spirit of God. And I would gently remind critics of the words of our Lord: ‘‘He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.” 
W. W. Fereday. 
“The Christian” March 20, 1902.