John Nelson Darby and the Brethren Assemblies

  1. The Beginning of The Assemblies
    1. The Historical Background
    2. Some of the First Brethren
    3. Major Views of the Brethren

A. The Historical Background

The background of the Lord's move through John Nelson Darby and the Brethren is found in the spiritual condition in England and Europe prior to 1826. Through the preaching of Wesley, many revivals were stirred up, and new life was brought in where previously there had been coldness and formality. In addition, the historical setting of Napoleon's Europe and the Napoleonic wars increased the interest in the study of prophecy. People began to consider and increasingly desire the Lord's return.

The Brethren became a reaction against the prevailing tendencies within organized Christianity

The Brethren became a reaction against the prevailing tendencies within organized Christianity. The organized churches were more readily accepting the theories of higher criticism. This system of doctrine seriously undermined the Word of God and the authenticity of the Scriptures. Several movements arose because of this situation. One was the Tractarian movement, a trend to return to the Roman Catholic Church. Another was the Irvingite movement, which was a revival of the Pentecostal gifts and the apostolate.

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Against this background God raised up a reaction to the churches that had become dead, lacking the reality of Christ. More and more people left the state churches of Ireland, Scotland, and England to form independent groups, called “nonconformists,” or “dissidents.” Within such groups there was an increased emphasis on the study of the Word of God, on world-wide missions, and on the establishment of Bible societies.

B. Some of the First Brethren

1. Edward Cronin

One of the vessels that the Lord was preparing in His present move was Edward Cronin, a convert from Roman Catholicism. For health's sake, Cronin had moved to Dublin, Ireland, where he was educated at Trinity College and began practicing dentistry. Observing the situation among the Christians in Dublin, he became perplexed and disturbed about the divisions in the Lord's Body.

In the Word he saw that the Church is one

Cronin met with several groups of independent Christians, but eventually some of these groups required him either to join them or to leave. He chose not to meet with them and concentrated his efforts in searching through the Word of God. In the Word he saw that the Church is one, a sharp contrast to the many divisions caused by the denominations. He also saw that all believers are members of the Body of Christ, and that the Lord has given many gifted ones to carry on the ministry among the churches.

In 1826, Cronin began meeting with Edward Wilson. They met in a simple way to break bread and to pray together.

They met in a simple way to break bread and to pray together

This was probably the beginning of the Brethren movement. Immediately they were accused of being irreligious and against the law of God for meeting in such a way. They were even denounced from the pulpit. But their fellowship did not grow cold. Cronin wrote this concerning those early meetings:

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We soon began to feel as humbler brethren were added to us that the house in Fitzwilliam Square was unsuited. This led us to take a large auction room in Aungier Street for our use on the Sundays, and oh the blessed seasons with my soul, with John Parnell, William Stokes and others, while removing the furniture aside, and laying the simple table with its bread and wine, on Saturday evenings—seasons of joy never to be forgotten—for surely we had the Master's smile and sanction in the beginning of such a movement as this was! [1]

Another remark about their first meetings was made by J. G. Bellett:

It was poor material we had....There was but little spiritual energy, and much that was poor treasure for a living temple; but we held together in the Lord's mercy and care, I believe advancing in the knowledge of His mind. [2]

Gradually others came to hear of the meetings in Dublin, which eventually expanded to include Anthony Norris Groves and J. N. Darby. Darby, however, was not with them in the beginning. Of this time Cronin gave the following comment:

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…J. N. Darby [was] more or less affected by the general state of things in the religious world, but [was] unprepared to come out into entire separation. [He] looked suspiciously at our movements, feeling still able to attend and minister in the Church of England, as well as to come occasionally to our little assembly. [3]

2. John Nelson Darby

John Nelson Darby was born in 1800, 100 years after the birth of Count Zinzendorf. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, between the ages of fifteen and nineteen. Darby was an outstanding student, gaining many honors and capturing the gold medal in the classics. He studied law at Trinity and was admitted to the Irish bar, but he left shortly to pursue spiritual matters. Darby was ordained a priest in the Church of Ireland in 1826 and from then on was considered a very High Churchman. He relates that at one time he even disowned the name Protestant:

I looked for the Church....I too, governed by a morbid imagination, thought much of Rome, and its professed sanctity, and catholicity, and antiquity....I held apostolic succession fully, and the channels of grace to be there only. [4]
By this Darby indicated that he too, at one time, had thought that grace was with the Catholic church because it seemed to be in succession with the apostles that had gone before. Darby said further, “I held thus Luther and Calvin and their followers to be outside [the church].” [5]

Though Darby was still a Churchman, the Lord gradually was shining upon him, opening to him the matters concerning the Church

He started meeting with the others for the Lord's table beginning in the winter of 1827 and resigned his curacy in 1828. However, he still kept one foot in the state church, while meeting informally with the brothers around the Lord's table. Though Darby was still a Churchman, the Lord gradually was shining upon him, opening to him the matters concerning the Church. He wrote a treatise called “Considerations of the Nature and Unity of the Church of Christ” (1828). This is considered the Brethren's first published pamphlet.

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Most Church historians acknowledge Darby to be the principal leading one in the beginning of the Brethren movement. The following summary is by Neatby:

...the maker of Brethrenism as a system, its guiding and energising spirit throughout, was John Nelson Darby. In the grandeur of his conceptions, in the irresistible vehemence of his will, in his consummate strategical instinct, in his genius for administration, and most of all in his immense personal ascendency, he stands unrivalled amongst the Brethren. His energy was stupendous. He was working for Brethrenism before he was thirty, and when he was eighty he was working as hard as ever; nor had he been known to relax his efforts—efforts put forth up to the full measure of his great strength, and often beyond it—during the whole of the intervening time. [6]

Francis Newman spent much time with Darby. He included this description of Darby in his autobiography:

My second period is characterised, partly by the great ascendency exercised over me by one powerful mind and still more powerful will, partly by the vehement effort which throughout its duration urged me to long after the establishment of Christian Fellowship in a purely Biblical Church as the first great want of Christendom and of the world....
After taking my degree I became Fellow of Balliol College; and the next year I accepted an invitation to Ireland, and there became private tutor for fifteen months in the house of one now deceased, whose name I would gladly mention for honour and affection—but I withhold my pen.
A young relative of his,—a most remarkable man,—rapidly gained an immense sway over me. I shall henceforth call him 'the Irish clergyman' [Darby]. His bodily presence was indeed weak! A fallen cheek, a bloodshot eye ...a seldom shaven beard, a shabby suit of clothes and a generally neglected person, drew at first pity, with wonder to see such a figure in a drawingroom.

With keen, logical powers, he had warm sympathies, solid judgment of character, thoughtful tenderness, and total self-abandonment.

It was currently reported that a person in Limerick offered him a halfpenny, mistaking him for a beggar; and if not true, the story was yet well invented. This young man had taken high honours in Dublin University and had studied for the bar, where, under the auspices of his eminent kinsman, he had excellent prospects; but his conscience would not allow him to take a brief, lest he should be selling his talents to defeat justice. With keen, logical powers, he had warm sympathies, solid judgment of character, thoughtful tenderness, and total self-abandonment. He before long took Holy Orders, and became an indefatigable curate in the mountains of Wicklow. Every evening he sallied forth to teach in the cabins, and roving far and wide over mountain and amid bogs was seldom home before midnight. By such exertions his strength was undermined. ...His whole frame might have vied in emaciation with a monk of La Trappe.

Such a phenomenon intensely excited the poor Romanists, who looked on him as a genuine saint of the ancient breed. The stamp of heaven seemed to them clear in a frame so wasted by austerity, so superior to worldly pomp, and so partaking in all their indigence.

He had practically given up all reading except that of the Bible

That a dozen such men would have done more to convert all Ireland to Protestantism than the whole apparatus of the Church Establishment was ere long my conviction....He had practically given up all reading except that of the Bible; and no small part of his movement towards me soon took the form of dissuasion from all other voluntary study.

In fact I had myself more and more concentrated my religious reading on this one book; still, I could not help feeling the value of a cultivated mind. Against this, my new eccentric friend (himself having enjoyed no mean advantages of cultivation) directed his keenest attacks. I remember once saying to him, in defense of worldly station—“To desire to be rich is unchristian and absurd; but if I were the father of children, I should wish to be rich enough to secure them a good education.

For the first time in my life I saw a man earnestly turning into reality the principles which others confessed with their lips only

” He replied: “If I had children, I would as soon see them break stones on the road, as do anything else, if only I could secure to them the Gospel and the grace of God.” I was unable to say Amen, but I admired his unflinching consistency....For the first time in my life I saw a man earnestly turning into reality the principles which others confessed with their lips only. That the words of the New Testament contained the highest truth accessible to man,—truth not to be taken from nor added to,—all (as I thought) confessed: never before had I seen a man so resolved that no word of it should be a dead letter to him. I once said: “But do you really think that no part of the New Testament may have been temporary in its object? For instance, what should we have lost, if St. Paul had never written the verse, 'The cloak which I left at Troas bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments'?”

No! every word, depend upon it, is from the Spirit, and is for eternal service.”

He answered with the greatest promptitude: “I should certainly have lost something; for that is exactly the verse which alone saved me from selling my little library. No! every word, depend upon it, is from the Spirit, and is for eternal service.” [7]

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3. Anthony Norris Groves

Another chief person among the Brethren in the beginning days was Anthony Norris Groves. He had been trained in dentistry in London and was able to support himself by the time he was nineteen years of age. From Plymouth he moved to Exeter where he was very prosperous in his practice. Yet he desired to be a missionary and was willing to give up his successful practice. His wife, though, would not go along with him in the matter. Instead of forcing his will upon her, Groves waited. Little by little the Lord did a work in both of them that began by their consecrating all their possessions to the Lord. They were satisfied with living on a minimal amount and gave the rest away to needy ones. At this time he wrote a pamphlet called Christian Devotedness that had a strong influence on George Mueller. This writing has been out of print for some time, but G. H. Lang printed it as one of the chapters in his book, Anthony Norris Groves.

Groves still desired to be a missionary, so he decided to enroll in Trinity College in Dublin to be trained. He started there in 1825. On account of his background he went to Trinity as a High Churchman. While attending Trinity College he met with some Christians who came together weekly to pray and to study the Word. Gradually he became enlightened in the Scriptures. He saw that the early disciples were free to come together in a simple way to have the Lord's table at least once a week on the Lord's Day.

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At this time Groves met Miss Bessie Paget, an older sister in the Lord. Miss Paget had a substantial influence over Groves which continued to the end of his life. She was a close friend, one to whom he was indebted for spiritual counsel. The following is a description of her by Groves himself:

Dearest [Bessie] had, for some time, sunk the keen controversialist [Groves] in the tender and kind friend. She felt how ignorant I was, and treated me accordingly; yet so sweetened it by a lively and real interest, that I never could doubt she loved me; and the more I saw into her holy, unselfish soul, the more I regretted I ever felt alienated from her; and, by a natural sort of revulsion of feeling, now drew to her so much the more. She kept instructing me, as my obstinacy and self-will would allow, yet always bore most gently and lovingly with me; and I look up to her, and love her now as my mother, in the things of God; and to this day, when others have disappointed me, her love has never failed. [8]

Miss Paget was meeting in one of the dissenting groups and invited Groves to come with her. She wanted him to speak at the independent meeting, but he hesitated. Eventually he was persuaded. Lang had this to say about her influence on Groves:

It was evidently the excellence of this “dissenter” [Miss Paget] that weaned him from bigoted devotion to the Establishment as the only sphere of spiritual life; it was she who led him into the wider sphere of service to the whole church of God by inducing him to preach in her hall at Poltimore; it was in her house that his wife obtained full rest in Christ; it was there that they stayed for a year after he had resigned his profession and before they left for Bagdad [as missionaries], in which time their little girl died; and it was Miss Paget who had accompanied him on a journey to Dublin which was to have...momentous results for the church of God and its service in the gospel…. [9]

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Lang indicates that Miss Paget also had a strong influence on George Mueller:

...it would almost seem that [Mueller's] own life may find its chief impulse and direction in the influence God exerted upon him through this spiritually powerful, winsome woman. Yet we may presume that at first she could have had no conception of how great a work the Lord was doing through her” [10]

Later Miss Paget met with some brothers and sisters in Barnstaple. Someone wanted her to leave there and come to what he considered to be a better environment. However, she loved the fellowship in Barnstaple and wrote the following poem describing the meetings there:


I cannot now return to thee,
I cannot leave my rest;
For here God's children comfort me,
And here I find I'm blest.
We worship not 'neath fretted dome,
Or organ's feeling sound,
Nor where the dim light streams athwart
The long aisle's sculptured round;
But simply, as of old they came,
According to the Word,
They met in Jesus' sacred Name,
And called upon the Lord.
No priests adorned with priestly pride,
No altar railed around,
No multitude of mixed race
Are meeting on the ground;
But worshipers sincere are there,
And there the wine and bread,
Mysterious emblems of their Lord
Who for them groaned and bled.
Mysterious! for by faith we look
Beyond the outward sign
To Him, Who now will come again
In glory all divine;
To Him, Who said, Take this and eat,
Drink and remember Me—
We do it, Lord, for Thy dear sake,
And long Thy face to see:
We do it in sweet fellowship.
Communion with each other;
Not as a stranger alien host,
But brother now with brother.
Then, loved one, call me not away
From this dear chosen band;
I've much to learn, here let me stay,
That I may understand
More perfectly the will of God,
The love of God to me,
That love which changed to sunny calm
Life's dark and troubled sea;
That love which drew me nearer Him
My portion and my stay,
My port in storms,
My light in clouds,
My Lord, my life, my way! [11]

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Due to Miss Paget's influence and also to what he himself had been reading in the Word of God, Groves felt free to leave college and to begin breaking bread there. He was prompted in this direction by a letter from someone in Calcutta who said concerning the breaking of bread, “Why do you delay? Why wait any longer?” He also saw clearly that ordination was not a requirement to break bread in such a manner, and therefore gave up all prospects of ordination.

4. John Gifford Bellett

Another leading one among the early Brethren was John Gifford Bellett. He was born in Dublin, Ireland.

It was Bellett who brought Darby in touch with the early movement

He also attended Trinity College where he gained high honors in the study of law. Initially he had very close connections with the established church. Upon graduation from college he practiced law for a short period of time in London but was later admitted to the Irish bar in Dublin. It was Bellett who brought Darby in touch with the early movement. Groves had an influence on Bellett, which Bellett acknowledged when he referred to a conversation with him:

[Groves] said to me:—'This I doubt not is the mind of God concerning us—we should come together in all simplicity as disciples, not waiting on any pulpit or ministry, but trusting that the Lord would edify us together by ministering as He pleased and saw good from the midst of ourselves.' At the moment he spoke these words, I was assured my soul had got the right idea, and that moment I remember as if it were but yesterday, and could point you out the place. [12]

C. Major Views of the Brethren

The following list comprises the major views the Brethren held at the beginning of the movement:

  1. Ordained clergymen were not needed to validate the Lord's table. Brothers and sisters could meet without an ordained clergyman present.
  2. The Lord's presence was guaranteed to them wherever two or three were meeting in His name. This meant that they could simply come together by twos or threes and the Lord would be in their midst.
  3. The priesthood included all believers. They saw that the clerical system was totally unscriptural.
  4. As members of the Body of Christ, the believers had a bond of fellowship among themselves.
  5. From the beginning they studied prophecy in the Scriptures, especially the unfulfilled prophecies.
  6. All whom the Lord received should be allowed to come and meet with them at the Lord's table. There was no doubt about this matter in the very beginning, as the following statement indicates.

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The terms free or open communion, are adopted to indicate the right of all who are known, or supposed, on the best evidence we can command, to be sincere believers in the Lord Jesus, to come to the table of the Lord; however different their degrees of faith and love, however diverse their judgments upon many points, which, however important in themselves, are yet not such as to prevent their being recognized by the Lord as His members. [13]

The first volume of the first Brethren magazine said this concerning the receiving of Christians:

...a credible profession of faith in the Lamb and a consistent conversation is all that we have a right to require; if we demand more we are guilty of the sin of schism; we divide those whom Christ has united on purpose that they might strengthen and edify one another. Speaking of “The increased desire for union on the simple ground of Christian brotherhood” the writer adds: “We pray that it may be continued—that all who desire the welfare of the Church of Christ may labour to see themselves and others so circumstanced as not only to love, but to receive into the appointed fellowship of breaking bread, all whom they believe to be brethren in Christ Jesus; not requiring uniformity nor oneness of understanding, but only the possession of the one Spirit.” [14]

Lang also deals with some of the original views of the Brethren in his biography of Anthony Norris Groves. The section entitled “Separation from Other Christians Not a Condition of Communion” includes this emphatic word from a writer in 1838:

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Though the fullest devotedness and separation from the world are enjoined as a privilege and duty, yet gladly would we have admitted the late emperor of Russia before he died [a member, of course, of the Greek Orthodox Church. That he was a true believer may be seen in the Memoirs of Stephen Grellet, chs. 24 and 30.], as we would the archbishop Fenelon [a French Roman Catholic, but also a true Christian], without obliging or calling upon either to give up their thrones. [15]

Darby himself wrote this in 1839:

Whenever Christ has received a person, we should receive him. That false brethren may creep in unawares is possible. If the church be spiritual they will soon be made apparent; but as our table is the Lord's and not ours, we receive all the Lord has received, all who have fled as poor sinners for refuge to the hope set before them, and rest not in themselves but in Christ as their hope.
You say, 'Would you receive a Roman Catholic?' If a Roman Catholic really extolled Jesus as Saviour, owned His one sacrifice of Himself as the sole putting away of sin, he would have ceased to hold the error and delusion by which the enemy has misled some souls who are still, I trust, precious to Jesus; he would cease to be a Roman Catholic in the evil sense of the word, and on those terms only would he be with us. I repeat, then, we receive all who are on the foundation, and reject and put away all error by the Word of God and the help of His ever-living Spirit. [16]
  1. From the beginning the brothers felt a liberty to speak in other meeting halls other than those of the Brethren. Darby was invited to speak at D. L. Moody's church in Chicago and at James H. Brooke's church in St. Louis.

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