In the winter of 1827-28, four Christian men, who had for some time been exercised as to the condition of the entire professing church, agreed, after much conference and prayer, to come together on the Lord’s day for the breaking of bread, as the early Christians did, counting on the Lord to be with them; these were; Mr. Darby, Mr. (afterward Dr.) Cronin, Mr. Bellett, and Mr. Hutchinson. Their first meeting was held in the house of Mr. Hutchinson, No. 9, Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin. They had for a considerable time―along with others who attended their reading meetings―been studying the Scriptures, and comparing what they found in the Word of God with the existing state of things around them; but they could find no expression of the nature and character of the church of God, either in the National Establishment, or in the various forms of dissenting bodies. This brought them into the place of separation from all these ecclesiastical systems, and led them to come together in the name of the Lord Jesus, owning the presence and sovereign action of the Holy Spirit in their midst, and thus endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Matt. 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20); Eph. 4:3, 43Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; (Ephesians 4:3‑4).
They continued to meet for some time in Fitzwilliam Square, and others were gradually added to their number.
The circumstances which led these earnest men to read the scriptures and come to the decision above described were evidently of the Lord. One of the four, a clergyman from the county Wicklow, having met with an accident which injured his foot, came to Dublin for care and treatment. Before this happened, however, he had passed through much exercise of conscience as to his position in the establishment, and had determined to leave it. Some of his friends in town, like himself in the country, had been similarly exercised, and feeling the absence of spiritual life and Christian fellowship in the denominations, were really thirsting for something which could not be found there. Thus the Spirit of God was working in many minds, and in an especial way, at that time. He had created a felt need in the heart which grace and truth alone could satisfy. In this state of mind they agreed to study the Word together, and look to the Lord for light and direction as to their future path.
Interested friends, and the survivors of those who were early connected with this movement, have raised the question as to whose heart the Spirit of God first visited and moved on the important subject of the unity of the church, and separation from existing religious systems. But without attempting to answer such a question, we would simply reply that the thought was God’s thought as it was His truth, and the leader in the work was His chosen instrument. History has to do not with theories, but with facts, in so far as they are known.
The Overruling Hand of God
Here we have to notice before going farther, the existence of a small meeting with a measure of intelligence as to the church of God being one body, previously to the meeting of the four in Fitzwilliam Square. They had been independents; but it does not appear that they left that body so much from principle as from dissatisfaction with their ways. Nevertheless, God was working in their hearts by His grace and overruling the discipline of that church for their spiritual blessing. And how often this has been the case with individuals in all similar movements, of whom it may be said, “they went out, not knowing whither they went.” But the Lord was guiding, and their dependence was in Him. It happened in this way:
A young man, a medical student―afterward Dr. Cronin―had come up from the south of Ireland to Dublin for his health, about the year 1826. He applied for communion as a visitor and was readily received at the tables of the Independents; but when they learned that he had become a resident, this liberty was refused. He was then informed that he could no longer be admitted to the table of any of the congregations without special membership with some one of them. This announcement made a deep impression on his mind, and was no doubt used of God to turn his attention to the truth of the one body. If, he thought, all true believers are members of the body of Christ, what can that strange expression mean, special membership with the Independents? He paused, and after much exercise of conscience and prayer, he refused to submit to their church order. This forced him outside and exposed him to the charge of irreligion and antinomianism. He remained in this outside place for several months, feeling deeply his loneliness and separation from many that he loved in the Lord. It was a time of trial, in its way, and might have proved most injurious to his soul, but the Lord overruled it for blessing. To avoid the appearance of evil he used to spend the mornings of the Lord’s Day in secret. These seasons he found to be of great blessing spiritually, and also of deep exercise as to his future path. Such is the Lord’s way with the instruments He is preparing for future testimony and service.
The young student was at length publicly excommunicated by name in a chapel, of which the Rev. William Cooper was the minister. This greatly affected him: he found it no light thing to be thus publicly denounced and avoided by those he esteemed as Christians. But the church had gone fax beyond its proper jurisdiction. She has authority only from her Head in heaven to cut off those who have proved themselves to be wicked persons. “Put away from among yourselves that wicked person.” (1 Cor. 5). Thus the church in so acting received the deeper wound herself. One of the deacons, Edward Wilson, secretary to the Bible Society, was constrained to protest against this step, which led to his leaving the Congregational body.
These two brothers, Messrs. Cronin and Wilson, after studying the word for some time, began to see their way clear to come together on the Lord’s day morning for the breaking of bread and prayer. They first met for this purpose in the house of Mr. Wilson, Sackville Street. They were joined in a short time by two Miss Drurys, who left Mr. Cooper’s chapel, where they were members; and also by a Mr. Tims, bookseller, Grafton Street. Mr. Wilson leaving soon after this for England, the little meeting was transferred to Mr. Cronin’s house in Lower Pembroke Street, where several were added to their number.
The existence of this meeting, it may be said, was the result of circumstances, not of divine conviction. We believe both concurred. They were no doubt forced into the place of separation by the mistaken conduct of the Congregational body, but they also were led to fall back upon the sure word of God, to act under their divine instincts, and the unerring guidance of the Holy Spirit. This little meeting never formally broke up, but they united at once with those who began to break bread in Fitzwilliam Square; the accommodation was greater, and the principles of meeting substantially the same.
We now return to what may be fairly called the first meeting of “the Brethren,” held in Fitzwilliam Square. Deep impressions of the truth may have been abroad upon the hearts of many at an earlier period than this, and that without conference; but with respect to the community of Brethren, so-called, we must start from this point. And here we have something more definite and positive, something more to be relied upon than general report or personal recollections.
The Brethren’s First Pamphlet
In the year 1828 Mr. Darby published his first pamphlet, entitled, “The Nature and Unity of the Church of Christ.” We may consider this tract as a statement of what the young community believed and practiced, though not in the form of a creed or confession; and, further, as presenting the divine ground on which they acted. It may also be considered to contain nearly all the elements of those distinctive truths which have been held by Brethren from that day even until now. Not that the writer thought anything of this at the time; he was simply making known for the help of others what he had learned from the Word of God for himself. But who could question the guidance of the Holy Spirit in such a production? Surely He was leading His chosen instruments by a way which they knew not, that the blessing which followed might be seen to be of His own rich grace and truth.
As this paper was the first public testimony of a movement which was so rapidly to produce such blessed results in liberating souls, we will here give for the convenience of the reader a few extracts, chiefly as to the unity of the church.
“We know that it was the purpose of God in Christ to gather in one all things in heaven and on earth; reconciled unto Himself in Him; and that the church should be, though necessarily imperfect in His absence, yet by the energy of the Spirit the witness of this on earth, by gathering the children of God which were scattered abroad. Believers know that all who are born of the Spirit have substantial unity of mind, so as to know each other, and love each other as brethren. But this is not all, even if it were fulfilled in practice, which it is not; for they were so to be all one, as that the world might know that Jesus was sent of God: in this we must all confess our sad failure. I shall attempt not so much to propose measures here for the children of God, as to establish healthful principles: for it is manifest to me that it must flow from the growing influence of the Spirit of God and His unseen teaching: but we may observe what are positive hindrances, and in what that union consists....
“In the first place it is not a formal union of the outward professing bodies that is desirable: indeed, it is surprising that reflecting Protestants should desire it. Far from doing good, I conceive it would be impossible that such a body could be at all recognized as the church of God. It would be a counterpart to Roman unity; we should have the life of the church and the power of the Word lost, and the unity of spiritual life utterly excluded. Whatever plans may be in the order of providence, we can only act upon the principles of grace; and true unity is the unity of the Spirit, and it must be wrought by the operation of the Spirit....
“If the view we have taken of the state of the church be correct, we may adjudge that he is an enemy to the work of the Spirit of God who seeks the interests of any particular denomination; and that those who believe in the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, ought carefully to keep from such a spirit: for it is drawing back the church to a state occasioned by ignorance and non-subjection to the Word, and making a duty of its worst and most anti-Christian results. This is a most subtle and prevailing mental disease, ‘he followeth not us,’ even when men are really Christians....
“Christians are little aware how this prevails in their minds; how they seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ; and how it dries up the springs of grace and spiritual communion; how it precludes that order to which blessing is attached, the gathering together in the Lord’s name. No meeting, which is not framed to embrace all the children of God, on the full basis of the kingdom of the Son, can find the fullness of blessing, because it does not contemplate it because its faith does not embrace it.... Accordingly, the outward symbol and instrument of unity is the partaking of the Lord’s Supper; ‘for we being many are one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.’ And what does the Apostle Paul declare to be the true intent and testimony of that rite? That, whensoever ‘we eat of that bread and drink of that cup, we do show the Lord’s death till He come.’ Here there are found the character and life of the church―that into which it is called―that in which the truth of its existence subsists, and in which alone is true unity.... Am I desiring believers to correct the churches? I am beseeching them to correct themselves, by living up, in some measure, to the hope of their calling. I beseech them to show their faith in the death of the Lord Jesus, and their boast in the glorious assurance which they have obtained by it, by conformity to it, to show their faith in His coming, and practically to look for it by a life suitable to desires fixed upon it.
“Let them testify against the secularity and blindness of the church; but let them be consistent in their own conduct. ‘Let their moderation be known unto all men.’ While the spirit of the world prevails, spiritual union cannot subsist. Few believers are at all aware how the spirit which gradually opened the door to the dominion of apostasy still sheds its wasting and baneful influence on the professing church.... I do believe that God is working by means and in ways little thought of, in ‘preparing the way of the Lord, and making his paths straight’ ―doing by a mixture of providence and testimony the work of Elias. I am persuaded that He will put men to shame exactly in the things in which they have boasted. I am persuaded that He will stain the pride of human glory, ‘and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man shall be brought low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day....’
“But there is a practical part for believers to act. They can lay their hand upon many things in themselves, practically inconsistent with the power of that day―things which show that their hope is not in it―to the world which shows that the cross has not its proper glory in their eyes.... Further, unity is the glory of the church; but unity to secure and promote our own interests is not the unity of the church, but confederacy and denial of the nature and hope of the church. Unity, that is of the church, is the unity of the Spirit, and can only be in the things of the Spirit, and therefore can only be perfected in spiritual persons.... But what are the people of the Lord to do? Let them wait upon the Lord, and wait according to the teaching of His Spirit, and in conformity to the image, by the life of the Spirit of the Son....
“But if any will say, if you see these things, what are you doing yourself? I can only deeply acknowledge the strange and infinite shortcomings, and sorrow and mourn over them; I acknowledge the weakness of my faith, but I earnestly seek for direction. And let me add, when so many who ought to guide go their own way, those who would have gladly followed are made slow and feeble, lest they should in any wise err from the straight path and hinder their service though their souls may be safe. But I would earnestly repeat what I said before―the unity of the church cannot possibly be found till the common object of those who are members of it is the glory of the Lord, who is the Author and Finisher of its faith: a glory which is to be made known in its brightness at His appearing, when the fashion of this world shall pass away.... The Lord Himself says, ‘That they all may be one: as thou Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.’ John 17.
“Oh! that the church would weigh this word and see if their present state do not preclude necessarily their shining in the glory of the Lord, or of fulfilling that purpose for which they were called. And I ask them, Do they at all look for or desire this? or are they content to sit down and say, that His promise is come utterly to an end for evermore? Surely, if we cannot say, ‘Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee,’ we should say, ‘Awake, awake, put on thy strength, arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, as in the generations of old’.... Will He give His glory to one division or another? or where will He find a place for it to rest upon amongst us?....
“I have gone beyond my original intention in this paper; if I have in anything gone beyond the measure of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, I shall thankfully accept reproof, and pray God to make it forgotten.”
The Effect of This Pamphlet
The effects of these statements, so plain, so solemn, and so scriptural, were immediate and great. They found an echo in many a Christian’s heart. Earnest men in various places, feeling it all but impossible to go on with the existing state of things in the professing church, welcomed the truth thus brought before them, and left their respective denominations. Pamphlets and books, with still more clearness and fullness, followed in rapid succession. In those days of virgin freshness and simplicity souls grew rapidly in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and His truth. Many wondered whereunto all this would come. But the Lord was working, and numbers followed His leading.
“Amongst those,” says Mr. Mackintosh in a letter to a friend, “who separated from the various organizations were some men of considerable gift, moral weight, intellectual power and intelligence―clergymen, barristers, solicitors, military and naval officers, physicians, and men of high position and property. Their secession, as you may suppose, caused a very considerable stir, and drew forth much opposition. Many a link of friendship was snapped; many a fondly cherished companionship was broken up; many sacrifices were made; much sorrow and trial were encountered; much reproach, obloquy, and persecution had to be endured. I cannot attempt to enter into details, nor have I any desire to do so. It could serve no useful end, and the record would but give needless pain. All who will live godly―all who are determined to follow the Lord; all who will keep a good conscience; all who, with firm purpose of heart, will act on the authority of holy scripture―must make up their minds to endure trial and persecution.
Our Lord Christ has told us that He came not to send peace but a sword. ‘Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division. For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.’ And He tells us that ‘a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.’” Luke 12.
Many thought that the movement would soon come to nothing, as they had no definite organization, no clerical order, no confession of faith, no visible bond of union, no president, nor ordained minister. But the Lord Himself was with them; true to His promise, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” And there the Lord was to the joy, blessing, and edification of His beloved people. If we allow Him His proper place at the table, He will not only take it, but His presence will fill our hearts with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Thus were they strengthened, and thus the good work of the Lord went on. The gospel was preached with clearness, fullness, and power. Books and tracts were written, and widely circulated. The grand doctrines of the church, the operations of the Holy Spirit, the blessed hope of the Lord’s speedy return, were brought out with great freshness and power, to the uplifting of many hearts, and to the eternal blessing of hundreds of precious souls. But we must return for a moment to our true starting point, Fitzwilliam Square.
When these things were noised abroad, great interest was awakened in many minds as to the real character of this movement. Those who ventured to their meetings were struck by the fact of hundreds of people assembled together without a minister so called, and yet there was no confusion, but “all things were done decently and in order.” One and another, becoming affected by the truth, were, after due examination as to soundness of doctrine and holiness of life, received into communion. The numbers so increased, that in little more than a year the house of Mr. Hutchinson was found to be unsuitable for the meetings.
The First Public Room
Mr. Parnell―afterward Lord Congleton―who appears to have united with the Brethren in 1829, hired a large auction room in Aungier Street for their use on the Lord’s day. His idea was that the Lord’s table should be a public witness of their position. This was their first public room; there they commenced first breaking bread about the spring of 1830, if not in the winter of 1829. This strange-looking place for the holy service of the Lord may be taken as a sample of what such rooms have been in all parts of the country ever since. In order to clear the place for the meeting on the Lord’s day morning, three or four of the brothers were in the habit of moving the furniture aside on Saturday evening. One of these active brothers, referring to their Saturday night work, after a lapse of nearly fifty years, says, “These were blessed seasons to my soul―J. Parnell, W. Stokes, and others, moving the furniture, and laying the simple table with the bread and wine―and never to be forgotten; for surely we had the Master’s presence, smile, and sanction, in a movement such as this was.” We have heard some describe the strangeness of their feelings on their first visit to this room, having been accustomed to all the proprieties of “church and chapel,” but what they heard was entirely new to them, and is remembered to this day. Such persons love to speak of the peculiar freshness, unction, and power of the word at that time.
The Brethren afterward engaged the room entirely for themselves, and continued to meet in it for several years; so that it became well known in Dublin as “the Brethren’s room.”
A. N. Groves and the Brethren
One of the Brethren’s earliest visitors from a distance, whose name has become connected with their beginnings, was the late Mr. Anthony Norris Groves. From the scantiness of dates, even in his Memoirs, it is difficult to ascertain with certainty when he first met with the Brethren in Dublin, or how often. After doing our best by comparing the dates of letters, we believe the following to be substantially correct.
This dear devoted man was a successful dentist in Exeter; but from an early period of his life his heart had been fixed to go abroad as a missionary. The following conversation, as told by himself, skews a heart of almost ascetic devotion to its object. “Mr. Bickersteth,” he says, “came down, and in our dining parlor at Exeter I related to him my circumstances. I told him I had offered myself to the society ten years ago; and that my whole desire was to do the Lord’s will, and the greatest good to the church at large, but more especially to that object to whose interests I had pledged myself―the cause of missions. But this, I said, may be done in two ways: first, by giving one’s means; secondly, by personal exertions. In the first point of view I have an increasing professional income, and have this year received nearly fifteen hundred pounds, and dear Mrs. G., on the death of her father, will most probably have ten or twelve thousand pounds more; the whole of which, with my present views, will of course vanish, the moment we take the contemplated step. Mr. Bickersteth’s answer was, ‘If you are called of the Lord to the work, money cannot be set against it; it is men whom the Lord sends, and He stands in need of men more than money.’ I thought his judgment a wise and holy one, and I do so to this day.”
Although we have no date as to when this conversation took place, we gather from a letter to a friend that it was not later than March, 1827. Writing under date April 2nd, 1827, he says, “The death of Mrs. G.’s father, about three weeks ago, has rendered our path in some respects much easier; but it has put some of that deadly corrupter of the human heart―money―in our way, under circumstances we have no control over. Pray for us, therefore, that we may glorify Him with every farthing of it.”
But as the Church Missionary Society required that all their missionaries should have a college education and be duly ordained to the ministry, Mr. G. had to give up his professional duties and turn his attention to the study of theology. It was not necessary, however, that he should reside in Dublin during his studies, but that he should appear at the university there two or three times a year for examination as to his attainments. It was during some of these periodical visits that he became acquainted with the Brethren. As a Christian he broke bread with them in Fitzwilliam Square, the meeting being at that time in existence. This was the extent of his connection with the young community. Indeed, he never agreed with their ecclesiastical principles, nor the ground they had taken in separation from all the religious systems around them. In the year 1828, Mr. G. had a lengthy conversation with some of the Brethren on the subject of Missions and the Church, but as to the nature of the latter they could not agree. Mr. G. warmly contended that the tares were to grow in the church to the end, which the Brethren strongly resisted as unscriptural, and necessarily opposed to all wholesome discipline; “the field is the world,” not the church.
This was probably the last time they met previously to his sailing for Bagdad. During these visits to Dublin a great change had taken place in his mind as to the necessity of a college education, and of a ministerial ordination, for the work of the ministry. He abandoned his connection with the college, thought his preparations and visits to Dublin a waste of time, and recommended all missionaries going abroad to avoid the dictation of the cold formalities of a committee. Mr. Groves and his party sailed from Gravesend for Bagdad on the 12th of June, 1829, and arrived after a most perilous journey on the 6th of December.
Although we think that the self-denying whole-hearted devotedness of Mr. Groves, for the spread of Christianity among the heathen, is well worth a page in all church histories―and no pen could adequately write of the singleness of his purpose―yet this is not our object in the present instance. In several hurried and inaccurate sketches of the origin of Brethren which have come before us, Mr. Groves has been spoken of as the one who first suggested the idea of coming together to break bread without the presence of a minister. From this alleged suggestion some have called him the “founder” of the Brethren, and some the “father;” but this conclusion is not at all borne out by facts. It is quite possible that some of the early Brethren may have profited by his intercourse with them, especially as to the Establishment and ordination; but they had been meeting for worship and communion before Mr. Groves knew them, and we are fully assured that he never had any real sympathy with the ground they had taken.
We now return to trace a little, though with scanty materials, the spread of these truths.