Brethren History
THE FIRST TWENTY YEARS
In 1825, Dr. E. Cronin and Edward Wilson began meeting together in Dr. Cronin's home on Pembroke Street in Dublin, Ireland, each Sunday morning for communion, worship, and the study of the Bible. As students of the Scriptures, these godly men could not feel at home nor find spiritual food and fellowship in the Anglican Church of Ireland and, since they did not believe in church membership (already being members of the Body of Christ), they were not accepted in the relatively few dissenting and independent churches of the day.
They were not seeking to start a movement of any kind, they were not in competition with existing churches, nor did they attempt to influence others to do as they were doing. Nevertheless, by 1827 several others had joined them, including J. N. Darby, an ex-lawyer, and at the time a cleric in the Irish National Church.
These were days of unrest not only in the National churches but also throughout the various independent churches. Liberalism was beginning to gain ground among the Anglicans, as was a movement to unite with the Roman Catholic Church. At the same time a group surfaced in London which promoted charismatic tongues and prophesying.
Out of this unsettled state of the professing church, many true believers were led to form small groups where there was freedom to worship the Lord Jesus in reliance upon the Holy Spirit and according to the Word of God. Many of them found in Darby a truly pioneering and God-sent leadership. In 1830, J. N. Darby left the Anglican priesthood and devoted himself fully to teaching similar small groups of believers both in Ireland and in England.
During this first twenty years these groups, known as assemblies, were established worldwide. In their New Testament simplicity they preferred to designate themselves as "brethren," but the influence of the Plymouth England assembly soon caused them to be known as the, "Plymouth Brethren."
Their New Testament manner of meeting in homes and rented halls, their refusal of ordained leadership, their reliance upon the Holy Spirit for the ministerial gifts, and their close-knit fellowship and purity of doctrine, drew many of the finest leaders in Britain and elsewhere into this kind of church meeting.
Out of this gathering came some of the most profound truths of the Christian faith. A number of Christian historians have noted that this early period of the movement was one of the greatest periods in the Christian church, surpassing even that of the Protestant Reformation.
The Brethren movement was seen by many as a Scriptural way of freedom from the error and confusion of the day. The members of this expression of church life were ministering deeper growth truth, church life truth, dispensational truth and prophetic truth in a period when the Christians of Britain and Europe knew little or nothing even of the primary doctrine of the security of the believer, considering it presumptuous to declare one's assurance of salvation.
Early Leadership
The caliber of leadership that entered these simple assemblies was remarkable. Nearly all ranked high amongst their peers: several were English Lords, one a cousin of Queen Victoria, many of the high nobility of England, others top-ranking Army and Navy officers; still others were highly educated university men. Many were fine scholars, well versed in the classical languages, and not a few of them equal to the best linguists of their day. It is interesting to note that most of these men were less than 30 years old at the start.
The legacy of these men remains to this day in hundreds of books and articles. Some of the more well known were J. N. Darby, A. N. Groves, John Bellett, Henry Craik, George Muller, R.C. Chapman, G.V. Wigram, J.B. Stoney, William Kelly, C.H. Mackintosh, F.W. Grant, Henry Moorhouse, Sir Robert Anderson, S.P. Tregelles, and W.E. Vine. For more information on these men click here.
John Nelson Darby
One of the most remarkable of these men was J N Darby. During his more than fifty years of leadership among the Brethren, Darby was almost constantly on the move. Although of aristocratic heritage and near-genius mentality, (he was a classic gold medallist at age 18) he loved the poor folk and always sought to share their lowly homes and simple food.
His ministry covered not only Great Britain, but included France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Jamaica, Canada, America, Australia, and New Zealand.
During his ministry everywhere, at all times and under all circumstances, Darby was writing deep theological material in the form of personal and pastoral letters, published and unpublished papers, tracts, magazine articles, and book manuscripts. His books are still in print today: over 50 volumes averaging nearly 400 pages each. A number of hymns were composed by Darby which are still outstanding for their beauty and rich Biblical content.
Over and above all this he accomplished scholarly work in translating the entire Bible into English, French, German, and the New Testament into Italian.
J.N.Darby was one of the most outstanding biblical scholars in the history of the Christian church whose impact was at least equal to that of Luther.
He was in fellowship with the thriving Plymouth, England assembly, which by 1845 numbered over 1,200. However, since most of his time was spent elsewhere establishing other assemblies, other men carried on the bulk of the ministry in this assembly.
For more information see Darby in the references page.
George Muller
Another well known individual was George Muller, who in 1832 gave up his Baptist pastorate to become a co-worker in gathering and ministering to a Brethren assembly in a rented hall known as Bethesda Chapel, in Bristol, England.
This assembly thrived and had over 500 in fellowship by the early 1840's.
It was in 1835 that Muller's world-renowned orphanage work commenced, but that tremendous faith responsibility did not deter him from ministering at Bethesda Chapel for the following thirty-four years.
More detailed information on the history of the brethren can be found on the references page.