Plymouth Brethren Church History (notes for a further study)

I used to attend Pinewoods Gospel Chapel in Angus Ontario. Pinewoods had its roots in the Plymouth Brethren Church but Pinewoods has evoled through persistent and diligent study of scripture to a bible centered church very different from the Plymouth Brethren. As many people have asked me to say where I got such a good basis in biblical knowledge I thought it only fair to give Pinewoods that credit. Below is a brief write up on the Plymouth Brethren, you will note that through out the history of the church they stressed learning, and teaching. This is the most important feature of the Plymouth Brethren that Pinewoods has retained IMHO.


Founders and Notable Persons in Plymouth Brethren Church History

1. Anthony N. Groves
2. Edward Cronin
3. Francis Hutchinson Original Seven
4. William Stokes So Called
5. John G. Bellett
6. J.N. Darby
7. E. Wilson

Edward Irving
B.W. Newton

Concepts of the Brethren

Ground of Gathering
Corporate worship
Priesthood of all believers
Apostasy of the established church
Milleniumism, Post and Pre-Milleniumism
Individual anti-Christ
(virtually unknown amongst Protestants till Darby’s writings)
Substitutionary atonement.
Practicle Godliness
Infalibility of scripture
No creeds and no name.

Notable Events

1825 Dr. Edward Cronin and Edward Wilson begin meeting Sundays for Breaking of Bread (based on Matthew 18:20)

1830 Darby leaves the priesthood

1832 B..W. Newton invites Darby to speak at Ebrington St. Plymouth assembly

Darby Bible

1845 Clericalism at Ebrington St. Plymouth
Newton espouses Post-
-milleniumism.
Darby effectively excommunicates Newton and Ebrington assembly.

1845 Beginnings of the exclusive brethren
Darby vs Muller.

Further divisions: Darbyites, Newtonites,
Mullerites, Granitites, Kellyites,
Stuartites, Ravenites, and Taylorites

Key Verses
______________________________________________________________________________

Matthew 18:20
Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them.

1 Corinthians 12:13
For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body.

1 Corinthians 12:27
Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular.

1 Corinthians 10:17
For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

2 Corinthians 5:21
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made righteousness of God in him.

Colossians 1:20
And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.

History Notes

From Unity to disunity is probably the best way to describe the history of the brethren church.
First it has to be pointed out that there is no real Plymouth Brethren church in an of itself as the brethren hold no creed and no name. They strive to be as close to what they believe to be the New testament church as they can.
A Movement is the best possible description of the Brethren.. The origins of the movement can be traced back to the dissatisfaction that had arisen in the Church of England during the late 18 century, that same dissatisfaction that had produced the Campbellites and the Glasites. Like the Campbelites the Brethren were antisesordotal and stressed a degree of libertarianism. The movements origins can be seen in it’s founders. The founders predominantly came from inside the Anglican church itself. While there are seven recognized founders of the movement there are four that have made a major impact on the movement by their teachings. The Plymouth Brethren are noted for the scholastic nature of their assemblies and that is the reason why teachers played such a major role. The movement also can be said to have been influenced by the social disparity between rich and poor ..

The movement began as a group of scholastic clerics that meet to study pray and break bread on Sunday as they believed the first Christians did in the new testament church. This Four member group consisted of Anthony N Groves, John Darby, Edward Cronin, John Bellett and Francis Hutchinson. Each of these men had considerable influence on the development of the movement and arguably the devolution of the movement.


One of the earliest sources of what could be called Plymouth brethren thought was Anthony N. Groves. Groves his convictions lead him to the conclusion that there was something wrong with society an he set out to make a difference in a personal way giving most of what he owned to the poor and volunteering for foreign missions. He studied at trinity college in Dublin in order to prepare himself for a mission to the east notably to Baghdad. In his frequent trips to Dublin he came in contact with a select group of men with somewhat the same thoughts on biblical doctrine. During this period he experienced several major set backs that lead to his in ability to finance his schooling ( a burglary stool his tuition) From this Groves determined to continue his mission decide to go as a laymen . This development arguably changed his mindset on ordination and he began studying scriptures independently . He became convinced from his readings that believers baptism was a necessity and accepted baptism prior to his departure for missionary work . After the ceremony a friend came to him and said “of course, you must be a baptist now you are baptized” to which groves replied with what is now seen as a general Plymouth brethren attitude toward denominations, and the unity of the brethren..
No I desire to follow all in those things in which they follow Christ; but I would not, by joining one party, cut myself off from the others. Then taking up the ring on which his keys were hung, he said, “if these keys were to hold by one another, all would go if one fell; but as each of them is attached to this strong ring, so should we each take hold of Christ, not of any of the systems of men and then we shall be safe and united: we should keep together, not because of any human system, but because Jesus is one.
It would seem that with this new tenant Groves break with the church was complete but that of the other members of their study and fellowship group weren’t. Darby in particular had not come to

Darby

The most notable member of the Brethren was John Nelson Darby . Darby was born into a upper class English family whose family home was Leap Castle Offally.. An expression of this upper class position is seen in John Nelson Darby’s middle name which came from his uncles long time friend Lord Nelson. Fitting to his position Darby attended Trinity College in Dublin to study law, graduating at age 19. In 1825 he was ordained as an Anglican deacon and quickly made his way up to the rank of parish priest in Wicklow Ireland. After 2 years Darby became dissatisfied with the Church of England he in association with Anthony N Groves, Edward Cronin, John Bellett and Francis Hutchinson, began to preach the apostasy of the church. The apostasy they saw was the distance the church had come from the new testament church model Darby question the tenants the church treated as truths. He believed that the passion of Christ (the Crucification and resurrection) was not a simple act of sacrifice but an act of Substitutionary Atonement as he said the sacrificial death of Christ “is the sole ground of remission .... and there is none without shedding of blood ... and that by which Christ has made peace; Col 1:20 By this Darby saw that without this substitution man must bear the guilt of his sin and the punishment as well. This is something that brought Darby and the brethren much criticism. Writing in 1897 Rev. Edward Hartley Dewart described the beliefs of the Brethren as “herseys ... {and} contrary to Scripture and reason.” he directly attacks the Brethren’s substitutionary atonement saying “I object to this theory of atonement because Gods claims on us were not of the nature of a debt; and Christs work of atonement was not a commercial transaction.” He goes on to say that “this view results from forcing a coarsely literal interpretation on figurative statements.” The accusation of over literal interpretation may have some weight as the Brethren strongly adhere to the concept of the infallibility of the scriptures and would rather err on the side of literal then exclude any part of scripture.