About fifty or sixty of the congregation, rather than sanction such a loose principle of communion, withdrew from Bethesda. A positive division now existed. The question was now fairly raised as to whether Brethren were really gathered on the ground of the unity of the church, or merely as independent congregations. Bethesda had deliberately given up the ground she professedly occupied in fellowship with Brethren, had adopted independence, and openly avowed it. All who adhered to the principle of the " one body," as the only true ground of Christian fellowship, were directly opposed to it. Several meetings throughout the country followed the example of Bethesda, while others firmly maintained the position they had previously occupied. Brethren everywhere had now to face the question. It had to be looked at straight in the face. The testing time was come, and there was no backing out of it. To all who had not taken in the true idea of the church of God, it proved a terrible stumbling-block. Personal feelings, and affection for favorite teachers and friends, misled numbers. In many instances the abstract question was listened to and seemed right; but the moment the principle was applied to some particular person, the arguments were set aside by the hasty conclusion, " Oh I that principle of fellowship can never be right that would exclude such a dear godly man from the table." It was difficult, with feelings so fresh and strong, to take an unprejudiced view of the question: unless the soul was delivered from persons and their influence, and steadily fixed on Christ alone and on what is due to Him, no divine decision could be reached. When things merely natural were allowed to operate, the spiritual vision became clouded, the mind more perplexed than ever, and most likely yielded to the pressure of circumstances.
As it was then, so it is now. When we think of what is due to persons, we come to a wrong conclusion. When we think only of what is due to Christ, all is clear and simple as the elements of truth itself. When the blessed Lord takes His place in the church of Philadelphia, He reveals Himself in the character which is to form the standard of reception to the table and of the public walk of those received. He says, " I am he that is holy, he that is true." What could be more simple than this? Christ is there in His moral glory as the Holy One and the True; and we must look for more than intelligence-or cleverness in answering questions; we must look for holiness and truth in those whom we receive to the Lord's table. Nothing short of separation from all known evil, and soundness in the faith will suit His presence., We have ever to remember that He says, " there am I."
At first sight, and to many minds, it does seem more gracious, more loving, to receive to the table those that we believe to be true Christians though they come from an assembly where some of the members hold false doctrine, while they themselves are sound. Is it right, such will say, to cut off a whole meeting because of two or three unsound members? The answer is, None should be cut off but " wicked persons;" but the scripture also says, " Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." This is not cutting people off, but departing from them; having nothing to say to them so long as they are mixed up with iniquity. Surely the heresy of Mr. Newton is iniquity; it would leave us without Christ, the only foundation and center of union. It is worthless to talk of communion at all unless we have the true Christ of God. But let such true Christians as you refer to judge themselves of the known evil in God's sight, wash their hands completely of the defilement, and then they will be received with open heart and arms to the table of the Lord. Our first thought in reference to the table must always be, not what suits this brother or that brother, or what seems more loving and charitable, but what suits Christ as the Holy One and the True. When the eye is single, the whole body is full of light; there is no darkness or perplexity in the path.
It is also said, we know, that the Exclusive Brethren -as the protesters against Bethesda's course were now called-will receive persons to the Lord's table from the church of England, where much error is held, but refuse the most godly saint from a Bethesda gathering. This is true and often most painful and distressing to those who have it to do. Nothing but fidelity to Christ and His word could give them firmness in the face of the appeals that are made, and the subtle pleas that are urged. The explanation is this: strange as it may appear, the Neutral Brethren, as they were now called, professedly assembled on the principle of the church of God as before the division, and owned the presence of the Holy Ghost in their midst. Several things might be noticed which appear to us inconsistent with this position; still, as this was and is the ground taken, the gatherings must be dealt with as one body. By acknowledging the presence of the Holy Ghost in this way they profess to be one body though many members: therefore, in receiving a single member from a body that professes to be a unity, the whole body, sound or unsound, is, in principle, received. (See 1 Corinthians 12) But in the church of England and in the various forms of dissent, no such position is assumed. They meet on the ground of a particular system; it may be Episcopacy, Presbytery, or Independency; and the members of the different systems remain as so many individuals, and ought to be dealt with as such. The ecclesiastical position of such is entirely different from that occupied by the Bethesda gatherings so-called, and each individual must be dealt with according to the ground he professedly takes. There may be much sympathy and friendliness amongst the denominations, but there is no such thought as unity; nevertheless, to refuse a godly Christian from the church of England because he may think the Establishment right would be to make light or intelligence a title to communion, denying the unity of the body and form a sect. It is a question not of degrees of light, but of holiness and truth.