“Plymouth, May 14th, 1846.
My dear Brother:
I have again to thank you for your kind note, and the inclosures;-the latter I had seen before at the time you were so mercifully separated from the Establishment, and feel thankful that you have been counted worthy to suffer for the truth sake. How all the increased light we have been receiving from the prophetic word, shows the rightness of the position you are occupying; and if we are enabled to hold it in humility and meekness in subjection to the Scriptures, we shall find in it a present and everlasting blessing. The points respecting which you are at present exercised, are surely very important, and I trust that the Lord may graciously clear away every doubt, and lead you to a decision clear and satisfactory to your own conscience. You are aware that when we separated in this place, 14 years ago, we were greatly influenced in all movements by the conviction that the gifts of the Holy Spirit remain in the Church, so that we could still apply such c.c. as 1 Cor. 12, and Eph. 4. I think I may say we have never, for one moment, seen any reason to doubt the rightness of the conclusion to which we were then led. On the contrary, all our experience has been, and still is confirmatory of it. Indeed there seems a positive promise in the Epistles, that certain ministries granted by the Lord at his ascension, should continue till we all come into final perfectness. The continual use that we make of the apostolic writing, as the authoritative rule of the saints is a sufficient 'verification of the statement that he has given Apostles to bear upon our edification unto the end. There are still some who speak to edification, exhortation, and comfort, and they are prophets; there are some specially gifted in unfolding the meaning of the Scriptures, and they, I suppose, are teachers, and we find others acting as Evangelists and Pastors. We find also sometimes, the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, and faith, such, for example, as Muller's; ‘helps' also, and governments' κυβερνησεις. Those, I suppose, have this last gift who take as it were the helm, and guide others less skilful than themselves, through perplexing or difficult circumstances-in a word, I believe that every gift mentioned in the Scriptures, whether to be exercised in or out of the congregation, remains, though in weakness, except those which, if present, would invest the Church in the eyes of the world with enviable power, such are the gifts commonly called miraculous-they, I believe, have been withdrawn exactly for the same reason for which God withdrew the Sheckinah from Israel, for it was the visible token of his glorious presence, withheld therefore when they had so sinned, that He 'could no longer mark them as his, in the sight of the nations. But things precious to the poor of the flock still remained, and so I believe it is now. Many a ministration which!, the poor humble saint values above all price, and recognizes as of the Spirit, is still found in the scattered and!; fallen Church; but none in which the world would see any beauty or excellency, such as the gift of tongues, or the healing of diseases, for how could God put his mark of approval on a body which no longer retains its visible unity, and is no longer answering the purposes for which he called it out into visible separation on the earth. But it must be carefully remembered that the assertion of the continuance of the gifts of the Spirit, does not imply that every one in the congregation may minister. There has been the sad and fatal mistake which has almost ruined our testimony in many places; surely none but teachers may teach, none but evangelists evangelize, none but prophets prophesy-and all are not teachers, nor evangelists, nor prophets. Indeed the majority of the gifts given to the saints are evidently not intended for the congregation at all, but find the sphere of their exercise out of the congregation in many an unobtrusive ministration of kindness and love. The mouth is but one of many members in the body, and unless a person have that place in the body, he has no title either to pray or speak in the congregation. Gifts, too, are abiding, not sudden and impulsive. We are exhorted to stir up our gifts, and to wait on our own ministry, so that an acting on Cor. xii., would neither imply that every one would expect to minister, nor would it preclude the stated frequently recurring ministry of some. A friend recently writing to me from abroad, and lamenting over the mistaken views that have prevailed among many of the brethren, as to loose and democratic views of ministry, says we must avoid as to ministry the thought of unrestrainedness and a disavowing the responsibility of recognizing as teachers, &c., those whom the Lord has distinctly set as such. We are responsible also for checking ministry which is not for edification. E. F. used to say that the true thought in connection with ministry is "stated ministry, but not exclusive." I mean by stated ministry, that such and such are the persons, who, at such and such a place, are wont to minister, and in fact, whose ministry may be expected, whilst at the same time, there is no shut door, so as for any whom the Lord may fit for ministry, to be excluded from exercising any gift he may have received. Such is the principle on which we have been acting for more than 14 years; and we have every reason to be satisfied with it, and to say it is the principle of God. Every Lord's day morning we meet for communion at the Lord's table. It is a meeting open to the ministry of any whom God may have gifted for such service; there are generally 3 or 4 brethren present, who are known either to speak or pray to edification in the congregation, and although we do not know beforehand which of them may pray or speak, nor in what order, yet we always expect that some or all of them will take a part in the meeting. We believe it to be their duty to stir up the gift that is in them. But whilst we thus expect the regular ministry of some, pauses are allowed to occur, which afford the opportunity for rising gifts, if such there be, to be developed and proved. If any speak, and after due trial their speaking is found not to be to edification, the brethren who are regarded as "addicted to the ministry of the saints" here (of whom there are at present 3 or 4) after consulting others of spiritual weight, wait on the individual, and advise him (or if the case needs it) request him not to minister. We have not had occasion to act thus more than 4 or 5 times during 14 years, but when we have been obliged to adopt this course, we have never found it to fail. Besides the meeting for communion, we have another meeting in the week, and several prayer meetings, in which the ministry is similarly open; but in addition to these, we have many meetings, some for reading the Scriptures, some for lectures or teaching the saints, and some for preaching the Gospel to the world, in which the meeting entirely rests on the responsibility of the individual who undertakes it. The room in which he thus lectures or reads or preaches is regarded for the time-being as his own private room. It is a ministry with which the saints unitedly do not interfere, it is undertaken and carried on solely by the individual in his own manner and time, and he asks whom he pleases to be his substitute at his own discretion-of course where brethren who are laboring together love one another and confide in one another, such meetings will naturally become subjects of united interest, but still of freedom and responsibility. We believe that in such matters the Church may advise, but it has no right to interfere authoritatively except in a case of positive evil. Then, of course, it must exercise its discipline. I have now I think said enough to lead you to infer what my counsel to yourself would be. I should judge that the Lord has for the present devolved on you the responsibility of watching over the saints gathered under your care, both in doctrine and manners. If there be any others of whom you can say that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints like the household of Stephanas, I think it would be your duty to recognize such, and encourage such in the exercise of any ministration, whether in ministry of the word or of pastoral oversight, for which they have proved themselves fitted. If no such gifts have as yet appeared, I think you must wait, and he most careful not to force on any prematurely, nor by encouraging any who have not proved themselves qualified to fall into the old error of human ordination. This mistake, I might almost say sin, has not unfrequently been fallen into amongst brethren. Here, for example, at an early period of our gathering, a meeting was formed of six or seven brethren, for purposes of general oversight or rule, before any of them had really proved their qualifications for such a position; the result was that several soon showed they had no qualification for such a service, and the meeting, after lingering out an unprofitable existence for many years, was at last dissolved by the consent and desire of the majority who composed it, but not without leaving in the bosom of one or two an unhealed wound, which has operated most banefully in many ways; so that we have had our chastisement, for virtually we ordained or put persons into a position of rule without waiting for the Lord to manifest whom He would really qualify by His own gifts. I should think your prayer meetings would furnish an opportunity for your judging who might be qualified to pray. If there be any whom you deem able to pray to edification there, or wisely and with godly discretion to read a chapter or give out a hymn, then you need only at your meeting for communion afford the same opportunity by pauses, and you would introduce the principle of open ministry into your chief meeting. The presiding at the Lord's table would probably for the present remain in your own hands until it had pleased the Lord to raise up some amongst you of sufficient weight and judgment to undertake it in your room; for though we have to avoid the assumption of the clerical position, and though it is not necessary to be either teacher or prophet or evangelist in order to break the bread, yet it does require that he who gives thanks to God as the representative of the congregation on such an occasion, should be of grave character and of good report both in the Church and in the world, and able fitly to speak in the presence of a congregation for them to God. I do not doubt that all those who find themselves placed in a position similar to that which you now hold in Sunderland, will find their progress and blessing mainly to depend upon their willingness to receive and acknowledge anything that they may judge in their conscience to be of the Spirit and their faithfulness in discountenancing that which they believe to be of the flesh. Your title to act in such a way is the fact of being placed in the relation you hold to the saints around you-necessity is laid upon you by force of circumstances; so was it with Nehemiah of old-he had no other title to his authority-he was neither of royal nor priestly lineage,-but he was devoted in heart, and he had the word of God, and God brought him into circumstances in which every godly eye could see that he was doing the Lord's work; and though he had no outward authority-no ordination-yet every one who was true in heart to the Lord gladly owned authority in him. And now if we in Plymouth, and you, dear brother, in Sunderland, seek to go on using whatever advantages and influence the Lord may place in our hands for Him and His truth according to His written word; and if whilst we diligently and regularly wait on our ministries, we do not improperly exclude others, and do not seek to put ourselves or others into formal office or into positions beyond our strength, I do not question that, we shall find it the one path of real blessing and prosperity in service. I am fond of quoting, and applying 1 Cor. 16:1616That ye submit yourselves unto such, and to every one that helpeth with us, and laboreth. (1 Corinthians 16:16), I believe it just exactly indicates our present condition;-it is not exclusive, it leaves an open door for the manifestation of any gift; at the same time it recognizes a definite relation held by those who are known as fitly ministering, and points them out to their fellow-saints as worthy of love and honor for their works' sake.
Yours, in sincere Christian affection, (Signed) B. W. NEWTON.”
In correcting the above, by a second MS. copy, two verbal differences appeared. The word Epistles, p. 13, line one, at top, read Ephesians; and the word request, p. 15, line 15 from top, seemed to read require. The paragraphs differed materially, as also the stops.
This letter was first brought to my attention in London, by Mr. Howard's answer in print to part of it; and secondly in a note from Mr. Hill, (declining, from domestic affliction, to attend the Meeting in Rawstorne Street on the 9th ult.) I give, according to his permission, a few extracts, showing the impression the perusal of it produced upon his own mind.
"Rest assured, as to the meeting in town, that no one will appear (as accredited) from Ebrington Street. I am confirmed in this assurance by my perusal this day (just five minutes previous to the receipt of your letter) of Newton's epistle to Eres, of Sunderland, which (to say nothing of its plausible strain) contains in it (in MY judgment) two utter misstatements, so bad that I can do no otherwise than believe he advances them ignorantly. The one is, he ventures to assert, that ab initio i.e. fourteen years ago we met on the same principles on which they now meet in Ebrington Street; and secondly, he departs from the truth in the reason he assigns for the dissolution of the Friday Meeting.
I have now not a particle of doubt, since the perusal of Newton's letter to Eres, that what that letter develops has always been ab initio, i.e. fourteen years ago, in the secret of Newton's heart to develop so soon as he could do so with safety.
Five years ago my eyes were first being opened to his working at a plan, and the result has justified my suspicions. If the ground of our gathering had been fourteen years ago the same as that practically recognized now in Ebrington Street, what occasion for such clandestine mode of action? Were we not as men HONEST enough, or as Christians GRACIOUS enough, to be dealt with in an open and ingenuous manner? or was it not rather the truth that in his own conscience he was planning to do something subversive of the original principle on which we met? or else (in corroboration of this assertion) why is it that the original Brethren have to a man (so far as I can discover) left? and why is it that Newton, in the evident anticipation of being left alone by the original Brethren in the development of his plans, so warily encircled himself with a new set, not one of whom I believe ever accepted in their hearts (as now proved by their ways) the principles left us in the great grace of Jesus towards us, of meeting together simply in his blessed name, as our alone gathering point, in the energy of the Holy Ghost, because of the utter ruin as to its organization, &c. of his visible Church here on earth. I can truly say that had I recognized any other principle twelve years ago, I should not have come amongst the Brethren, for constituted as they now are in Ebrington Street, I think their position is more evil than that which is usually understood by the term Dissenter, because they profess to be different whilst essentially their position is the same-for wherein is the difference except it be merely circumstantial.
And with reference to the Friday Meeting usually held at Harris's, it was Newton himself' who was the first cause of its dissolution; and I feel perfectly disgusted at his palpable misstatement of the true reason. I was myself the first Brother who resisted his quiet tyranny over that meeting. His practice was, whenever he attended (which never or seldom was in a deliberative capacity, but only when he had a special point to gain), to enter the room five or ten minutes previous to the usual time of separating, and throwing himself into an arm chair, inquire what had been done in such and such a case? If it happened not to accord with his judgment, our decision, the fruit of prayer and two hours perhaps of deliberation, was to be reversed on his dictum, and such proving the case once after my personal remonstrance with him before all the other Brethren there and then present, I abstained from attending any more, and found that ere long the meeting was dissolved.
I can now see it was a meeting in Newton's way at that time, but it was himself, who in the way I have stated, contrived to dissolve it-at least (to answer for myself) his conduct was the sole cause of my leaving, and others followed shortly after.
Excuse the length of this; but I have been led on. In a measure it may speak for me in my absence, but at your discretion. I could perhaps have added more.
Yours affectionately in our Lord,
Richard Hill.
The three things which appear to have struck Mr. Hill on the perusal of the letter, are—1. the departure from original principle; 2. the purposely concealed yet well-concerted and pre-arranged mode of this departure; and 3. the positive falsehoods contained in the statement.
Note.-The Friday meeting referred to, consisted I am told, latterly, of Hill, Harris, Saunders, Rowe, Soltau, Clulow, Batten, Lean; Mr. Newton was rarely there. Now the meeting " was at last dissolved by the consent and desire of the majority who composed it," means, I suppose, Mr. Newton: he is the majority. Not only was there no consent and desire in the brethren Hill, Harris, Saunders, Rowe, Lean, Soltau, for the giving up of the meeting, (as to Clulow and Batten I know little)-but the very opposite-the very strongest desire in one and all of them to see it restored, and no one was the barrier to the restoration but Mr. Newton. Upon his solitary obstinacy in refusing this, in a great measure, hinged the withdrawal of Mr. Darby from the table and of Mr. Harris from ministry, with all the sad consequences. And the saints know this very well.
In conclusion I would only observe that I am not responsible for the document which I have printed ever having been penned by Mr. Newton; I am only responsible for the truthfulness of the statement I have made, viz. that it has been shown by his direct employees as an authentic document of his-a very clear view of his principles. It is because I believe it to be so, and therefore a key to many perplexities among brethren that I have printed it. In this view, authentic or not, it will be of value. In my own mind, however, I have no doubt that it is both an authentic and a correct document.
G. V. Wigram.
Since the printing of this commenced, I wrote, as urged upon me, to Mr. N., enclosing him a copy (in letter-press) of his letter. I stated that the paper was about to be published; that it was sent for corrections according to the original copy, and that it might be declared a forgery if not Mr. N.'s. I add his reply below. The reasons why I heed not his prohibition, may be seen above.
[I understand that Mr. Tregelles called on the Printer and stated that I was not to print Mr. Eres’ letter without the permission of the proprietors.]
B. W. Newton.
To Mr. Wigram. March 3rd, 1847.)
As John Howard has quoted from a MS., as purporting to be a " copy of a letter from Mr. Newton to Mr. Eres of Sunderland;" and as " Mr. Eres of Sunderland" is already a public character, as a name known to every one, all scruple about mentioning his name is set aside. The letter evidently shows that he and Mr. Newton are nearly strangers the one to the other.
And now, ere closing, I would just advert to the obvious and all-important difference in the conduct of a saint toward God and toward Satan; or toward a work of God and toward a work of Satan. If our brother Bellet is pleased to circulate, in MS. papers for the edification of his brethren, I can bless God; and I can bless God if such an one allow me to see and to have many of his more reserved thoughts or to print some fen; of his papers (as " Heaven and Earth." &c.) As a Christian I have to be subject to, to serve and wait on all such; and most unchristian would it be to break or betray his brotherly confidence. I would. add (to the praise of God's grace) who is so perfectly ready, if in any such paper, there should seem to be anything contrary to fellowship or beyond the measure of our faith and power, to give account of himself and to recall and suppress the part objected to, as our brother B. But when another has avowed the intention of making a party every where; has said he will do it underhandedly if he please, by means of sisters if he can; when a paper is so evasive as to bear three meanings; when it is replete with falsehood as to facts; when the writer will give account to none, save a few in whom, for the time, his spirit energizes-the case is quite changed; and decided unflinching contention becomes right. The more so because sober and Godly Fathers have said that the falsehood is so alarming in extent, and yet so subtle and evasive in character, as that it must be left (to work its way among the little ones) until God Himself shall arrest it. The tender Christfulness which made Paul a nursing mother to the saints in their weakness, made him a stern resister of Peter himself, when he was doing that which destroyed the foundation and energy of the saints.
One family may leave Plymouth to save the children from "being demoralized;" another may refuse to return from dread of " the poisoned atmosphere;" and many others, tied to the spot, may be longing to escape from it. They are right as to what they would shun-wrong, now, in localizing it to Plymouth. It is a system which has worked, from Plymouth, in London, Paris, Switzerland, &c. I shall not do so, but openly attack it at head quarters.*
I do not lay the blame to any door save that of Satan; though I believe that Mr. Newton, duped through his ambition by another, is the man most to blame. If people suppose I write in harshness they are mistaken: till this letter I never so fully tasted. " My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels;" besides, I myself am as one, throng grace, escaped.
Statements contrary to, or more highly colored than the facts authorized, I do not think I have made. A few which I thought others might deem so, I have suppressed. If the impressions of my mind have misled me, or if my language misleads others! am ready to explain or to confess.
To sum up in closing. I appeal to the saints as dwelt in and among by the Holy Ghost.
What is their estimate of this system, whence does it arise? whither does it lead? and by what spirit is it energized, What think they of that which in the midst of a controversy as to whether Ebrington Street has continued upon its pristine principle or not, is found to be secretly and underhandedly circulating by some sisters, a paper like this? It is a paper calculated to mislead the simple: to be a refuge for the misleading; a solution to the intelligent of the discrepancy between principles and practice, and yet full of falsehoods and misstatements as to facts.
If Mr. Eres and if the saints of God in England rightly understand The Letter,-they will, I am persuaded, be as wary of the system and its agents-as are their brethren, whose painful duty it has been to separate from Ebrington Street.