clared he had nothing to confess.” On the above subject the leaders state “to their brethren of the one assembly of God in London,” that “they can no longer have communion with him at the table of the Lord.” He is in consequence put “outside the church of God on earth.”
On this the Walworth gathering asked of the Priory meeting, “What sin or sins, according to scripture, of an excommunicable character,” he had committed. The reply was, we are told, to the effect that they were ”of a character not needing to be determined by scripture.”[1] This was not satisfactory to godly consciences becoming alive to the principles at work, and they added to this, in that they “in self-will” removed their place of meeting from Walworth to Peckham. The result of these unpleasant questions put, and of the self-will of going to Peckham without permission, was the following communication, that “those associated with the Peckham meeting, cannot be accredited at the Lord’s table till they are humbled for their course.” The saints meeting at Peckham are therefore put outside “the church of God on earth.”
Mr. Goodal, a member of the Peckham meeting, goes to Sheffield. The brethren composing the meeting in that place, considering he had been unrighteously put out of fellowship by the Priory, receive him , and are told as follows: “You have now placed yourselves in the same position as Mr. Goodal, viz: outside the communion of the saints gathered in London.” Thus an assembly of saints in Sheffield is also placed outside “the church of God on earth.”[2]
The godly heart sickens and saddens as it reads and examines the grounds for committing the most solemn act that the church of God can be called on to perform-of excluding from its number one who has sinned. We find “self-will” charged, “consciences violated,” “want
- ↑ “Three letters,” say the Sheffield brethren, “were afterwards received from the Priory brethren in answer to the above, assuming throughout that the offence in April, 1860, described as “grievous against the Lord’s presence and His people,” was “of a character not needing to be determined by scripture.”
- ↑ For full particulars of this matter we refer our readers to the following Pamphlets:—“Correspondence of the Walworth and Priory Gatherings.” “Letters Relating to the Recent Excommunications of Assemblies,” and “Letters of J. N. Darby, &c., with Replies on behalf of the Sheffield Brethren.” The latter Pamphlets are to be had of S. W. Spurr, West Street, Sheffield. We would particularly recommend these Pamphlets to the prayerful consideration of the people of God, that they may trace out the tendencies of this system of church fellowship.
