Page:Groves - Darbyism - Its Rise and Development and a Review of the Bethesda Question.djvu/57

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

and the Lord has not left them without witness; and in regard to that honoured servant of God, who has been so grievously slandered, and whose work in the Orphan Houses has been frequently termed by members of that party, “a work of the devil,” we can say in the words of a dear brother, in hearing of the work of conversion that has been going on among the orphan children of late, “May this always be the answer God will enable Mr. Müller to give to his accusers.” The Lord will not withhold the honour to him whom He can honour—an honour read not in the light of a party, but in the light of the whole Church of God.

The last occurrence that need be noticed in connexion with this part of the subject, is the interview that took place between Mr. Müller and Mr. Darby, in the summer of 1849. We might not have alluded to this, had it not been that untrue statements have been in wide circulation in reference to it, some denying that such a meeting ever took place, and others denying the tenor of the conversation that passed between them. The following is Mr. Müller's account of what took place. Mr. Darby called on him at the New Orphan House No. 1 , ten minutes before one o’clock, and Mr. Müller on entering the room where he was, shook hands with him, and Mr. Darby said to the following effect—“As you have now judged the tracts, the reason why we should not be united no longer exists.” To this Mr. Müller replied—“I have only ten minutes now free, having an engagement at one o’clock, and therefore I cannot now enter on this subject, for you have acted so wickedly in this whole affair, that many things have to be looked into before we could be really united again.” On this Mr. Darby rose and left, and thus ended their last interview. Mr. Darby’s remark proves that the reason of his present course is not be cause Bethesda what he asserts, but because he will not come forward either to prove or to withdraw the wicked statements of heresy and blasphemy he had made in reference to Messrs. Müller and Craik, and the believers in Bethesda generally, and shows what the present line of conduct is the result of, which would thus sacrifice the honour of Christ to that of a party. It is hard to fight against God, and it is grievous to see one professing the name of Christ, plunge into a course so suicidal and false, as that into which Mr. Darby has entered—a course to justify which he is almost necessitated to make the most untrue and wicked accusations, writing as he does, quite lately, that “the evil at Bethesda is the most unprincipled admission of blasphemers against Christ.”[1] It is a terrible

  1. See Mr. Darby’s Letter, quoted hereafter.