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PLYMOUTH BRETHREN

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 865 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PLYMOUTH BRETHREN , a community of Christians who received the name in 1830 when the Rev. J. N. Darby induced many of the inhabitants of Plymouth, See also:England, to See also:associate themselves with him for the promulgation of his opinions. Although small See also:Christian communities existed in See also:Ireland and elsewhere calling themselves Brethren, and holding similar views, the See also:accession to the ranks of Darby so increased their See also:numbers and See also:influence that he is usually reckoned the founder of Plymouthism. Darby (See also:born in Nov. 1800 in See also:London; graduated at Trinity See also:College, See also:Dublin, in 1819; died See also:April 29, 1882, at See also:Bournemouth) was a See also:curate in See also:Wicklow 1825-1827, when he See also:felt himself constrained to leave the See also:Anglican communion; going to Dublin, he became associated with several devout See also:people who met statedly for public See also:worship, and called themselves " Brethren." Among these were A. N. Groves and J. G. Bellett, who deserve to See also:rank among the founders of the See also:movement. In 183o Darby at Plymouth won over many people to his way of thinking, among them See also:James L.

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Harris, a Plymouth clergyman, and the well-known Biblical See also:scholar See also:Samuel Prideaux See also:Tregelles. The Brethren started a periodical, The Christiati See also:Witness, continued from 1849 as The See also:Present Testimony, with Harris as editor and Darby as the most important contributor. During the next eight years the progress of the See also:sect was rapid, and communities were founded in many of the See also:principal towns in England. In 1838 Darby went to reside in See also:French See also:Switzerland, and made many disciples. Congregations were formed in See also:Geneva, at See also:Lausanne, where most of the Methodist and other dissenters joined the Brethren, at See also:Vevey and elsewhere in See also:Vaud. His opinions also found their way into See also:France, See also:Germany, See also:German Switzerland, and See also:Italy; but French Switzerland has always remained the stronghold of Plymouthism on the See also:Continent, and for his followers there Darby wrote two of his most important tracts, Le Ministere considers dans sa nature and De la Presence et de l'See also:action du S. Esprit daps l'eglise. The revolution in the See also:canton Vaud, brought about by Jesuit intrigue in 1845, brought persecution to the Brethren in the canton and in other parts of French Switzerland, and Darby's See also:life was in See also:great See also:jeopardy. He returned to England, and his reappearance was followed by divisions among the Brethren at See also:home. These divisions began at Plymouth. _ See also:Benjamin See also:Wills See also:Newton, See also:head of the community there, who had been a See also:fellow of See also:Exeter College, See also:Oxford, was accused of departing from the testimony of the Brethren by reintroducing the spirit of clericalism. Unable to detach the See also:congregation from the teacher, Darby began a See also:rival See also:assembly.

The See also:

majority of the Brethren out of Plymouth supported Darby, but a minority remained with Newton. The separation became wider in 1847 on the See also:discovery of supposed heretical teaching by Newton. In 1848 another See also:division took See also:place. The See also:Bethesda congregation at See also:Bristol, where See also:George See also:Muller was the most influential member, received into communion several of Newton's followers and justified their action. Out of this came the separation into Neutral Brethren, led by Muller, and Exclusive Brethren or Darbyites, who refused to hold communion with the followers of Newton or Muller. The Exclusives, who were the more numerous, suffered further divisions. An Irish clergyman named Samuel O'Malley Cluff had adopted views similar to those of See also:Pearsall See also:Smith, who preached a See also:doctrine of sanctification called " See also:Death to Nature " as an antidote to the supposed prevalent Laodiceanism, and when these were repudiated seceded with his followers. The most important division among the Exclusives came to a crisis in 1881, when See also:William See also:Kelly and Darby became the recognized leaders of two sections who separated on a point of discipline. This was followed (1885) by the disruption of the strict Darbyite See also:section, two communions being formed out of it upon points of doctrine. There were thus six sections of Plymouthists: (1) the followers of B. W. Newton, who promulgated the prophetic views See also:peculiar to their See also:leader; (2) the Neutrals—open brethren, leaning to Baptist views and to the Congregationalist See also:idea that each assembly should See also:judge for itself in matters of discipline, headed by George Muller; (3) the Exclusives, the Darbyites, holding what may be described as a Pauline view of the See also:Church, who claim to be the See also:original Brethren, represented by J.

B. Stoney and C. H. See also:

Mackintosh; (4) the Exclusives associated in Great See also:Britain with C. E. See also:Stuart, in See also:America with F. W. See also:Grant; (5) the Exclusives who followed W. Kelly, giving a See also:general See also:adhesion to Darby but with a tendency to place See also:con-See also:science above church action, holding the Pauline view of the Church modified by Johannine elements; and (6) the Exclusives who followed Cluff. The fundamental principle of the Exclusives, " Separation from evil See also:God's principle of unity," has led to many unimportant excommunications and separations besides those mentioned. The theological views of the Brethren differ considerably from those held by evangelical Protestants (for a See also:list of divergences, see Teulon, See also:History and Doctrines of the Plymouth Brethren). They make the See also:baptism of infants an open question and celebrate the See also:Lord's Supper weekly.

Their distinctive doctrines are ecclesiastical. They hold that all See also:

official See also:ministry, whether on Episcopalian, Presbyterian or Congregationalist theories, is a denial of the spiritual priesthood of all believers, and sets aside the See also:Holy Spirit's guidance. The See also:gradual growth of this See also:opinion, and perhaps the reasons for holding it, may be traced in Darby's earlier writings. While a curate in Ireland he was indignant with See also:Archbishop See also:Magee, who had stopped the progress of See also:mission See also:work among See also:Roman Catholics by imposing on all who joined the church the See also:oath of supremacy. This led Darby to the idea that established churches are as See also:foreign to the spirit of See also:Christianity as the papacy is (" Considerations addressed to the Archbishop of Dublin,' &c., See also:Coll. See also:Works, i. I). The parochial See also:system, when enforced to the extent of prohibiting the See also:preaching of the See also:gospel within a See also:parish where the See also:incumbent was opposed to it, led him to consider the whole system a hindrance to the proper work of the church and therefore See also:anti-Christian (" Thoughts on the present position of the Home Mission," Coll. Works, i. 78). And the See also:waste of See also:power implied in the refusal to See also:sanction See also:lay preaching seemed to him to See also:lead to the conclusion that an official ministry was a refusal of the gifts of the Spirit to the church (" On Lay Preaching," Coll. Works, p.

200). The movement, if it has had small results in the formation of a sect, has at least set churches to consider how they might make their machinery more elastic. Perhaps one of the reasons of the comparatively small number of Brethren may be found in their idea that their mission is not to the See also:

heathen but to the " awakened in the churches." The movement has a distinct See also:interest for students of church history: (I) as illustrating again the See also:desire of certain Christians to pass over the garnered experience of the centuries,'and by going straight to the See also:Bible to make a fresh start without any other authority, precedent or guidance; (2) in its development alongside the Evangelical, T,actarian and Broad Church movements of the 19th €entary and its See also:affinities with them all.. A certain haphazardism that has always marked the Brethren is responsible for the present lack of qualified leaders. The See also:early See also:enthusiasm has waned, and no See also:provision was made for proper theological study. AUTHORITIES:—Darby, Collected Works (32 vols., edited by Kelly, with supplementary See also:volume, 1867–1883) ; A. See also:Miller, The Brethren, their Rise, Progress and Testimony (1879); See also:Rogers, Church Systems of the Nineteenth See also:Century; Teulon, History and Doctrines of the Plymouth Brethren (1883); See also:article " See also:John See also:Nelson Darby," in Contemp. Rev. (Oct. 1885) ; W. B. Neatby, A History of the Ply-mouth Brethren (London, 1902, 2nd ed.).

(T. M. L.; A. J.

End of Article: PLYMOUTH BRETHREN

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