Few outside the fold of the Brethren Movement will have
heard of the magazine, Truth and Tidings.
However in the March, 2014 issue there is a promo, setting out the story of
Brethrenism in the Republic of Ireland. Below is an excerpt:
The population, then as now, was
largely Roman Catholic, though there was a significant Protestant minority,
mostly adherents of the influential Anglican state church. In Dublin John
Nelson Darby emerged, a Trinity College Dublin graduate, barrister, linguist,
and practising Anglican clergyman.
Darby, "with high
connections and gentlemanly lineage," though of humble manners was easily
accepted as part of the protestant society. He pursued an evangelical path in
his parish and gathered with those of like mind to study the Scriptures. Soon
he was seen as a leader among other able scholars.
Spiritual advances gained during
the 1830s that we appreciate today include: the renunciation of clerisy [defined as “learned persons as a
class: intelligentsia” To deny such among the Brethren is a denial of the truth
̶ R.S.] starting with Darby's resignation from
ordained ministry, an understanding of fundamental prophetic topics, and an
insistence on the principle of assembly separation from the state and politics.
He was also the author of Christ-centered hymns that stood the test of time.
Little companies of believers sprang up in Ireland,
England, and elsewhere, though these did not survive well in southern Ireland Church
History-Recovery in Ireland; Ernest Dover. T and T March 2014
J N Darby is the acknowledged founder of the Brethren Movement. He was
not a church planter. He went where there were those seceding from dead
churches and forming new fellowships, in
order to bring them under his umbrella of linked assemblies.
There is no evidence of Darby experiencing a biblical conversion. I have
searched for many years for documentation of his conversion. The nearest I
found was under Stem Publishing:-
On one occasion, however, in conversation upon deep
spiritual experiences with his friend, Mr. William Kelly, he remarked that for seven years he had once practically
lived in the 88th Psalm, his only ray of light being in the opening
words, "O LORD GOD of my salvation.
In the case of Darby the ray of light that had
been, as he said, his only
glimmer of spiritual hope during the "dark night" of the seven years,
ushered him at last into the full blaze of day as he was brought into the
knowledge of peace with GOD, and so became filled with the joy of GOD's
salvation.
How this came to pass, we are not told. This certainly does
not describe a biblical conversion. Scofield
wrote, “ …. After a prolonged spiritual struggle leading to his
conversion.” There is no mention of
repentance and faith in Christ.
Darby rejected Believer’s Baptism as revealed in the New
Testament. He stumbled at the first step of obedience along the Christian path.
He invented his own theory of baptism which required children of Darby’s
followers, at the age of twelve.to be baptised at home in the bath.
Darby, an adherent of
Reformed Theology to the end, taught that “the Church is in ruins.” But we read
in Col. 1: 24 ,…. for his body’s sake, which is the church . Thus Darby implied
the body of Christ was no more than a heap of rubble.
We understand that the two Brethren assemblies mentioned by
Mr Dover still follow Darby teaching.
It may be due to Darby’s influence that repentance and
conversion are generally held in low esteem among the Brethren.
It is not necessary to be converted to become
a member of a local Brethren assembly.
I had an abusive email from a member of one of these two
assemblies who took exception to my exposure of false teaching. to read it, click
see my mailbag
R S