the meeting, with which, until lately, Mr. Dorman was connected? Mr. Dorman, in justification of his course of separating from Orchard Street, writes:—
“My heart instinctively shrank from the thought of bringing abstruse speculations on the solemn subjects of the cross and the sufferings of Christ before young and immature minds. I could not bear to do what I was assured would only gratify that natural pruriency of many, which at all times I have sought to repress instead of awaken; and most especially when Christ’s person was in question. It was this which led me to retire in silence from my ordinary fellowship with the meeting at Orchard Street, Bristol; contenting myself by saying, in an informal way, that the doctrines of Mr. D. had compelled the step I had taken. I had then made up my mind to encounter any obloquy on account of my course rather than incur the responsibility of bringing on indiscriminate discussions, which I am satisfied would have resulted only in blighting the best and holiest feelings of the heart toward Christ and His suffering and cross. And besides this, I was anxious not to hinder Mr. Mackintosh’s labours in the gospel, by collision with him, as I knew that he took a contrary part.”—pp. 60, 61.
Thus in the providence of God are the tables turned; those who for these many years have been unrighteously associating Bethesda with heresy, are now placed before the church at large on their trial for the same heresy, as that on the ground of false charges connected with which, they have been dividing and separating the children of God so long. They have digged the pit; and even now, though at the eleventh hour, may the Lord lead them to repentance, and prevent their falling headlong into that which none can fathom.
We will now make a few general remarks before we conclude.
In the rise and progress of those fatal principles of which we have been writing, we have seen how the holier the truth, and the more heavenly the doctrine, the more terrible is the delusion to which those who maintain them are exposed if they cease to abide in humble dependence on Christ and His word. The magnitude of the evils developed will always be in proportion to the greatness of the truths professed; for the higher the pinnacle the greater the fall. The path entered on now well nigh forty years ago by many in much conflict and in much joy of the Holy Ghost has been through a tempestuous sea; but, because the voyage has been rough and stormy, let not the Lord’s people give up the truth the Lord may have taught them. The turmoil and confusion which have come in, have not arisen from God’s principles, but from man’s departure from them. Thank God, looking onward, courage can be taken, and while bowing before God in sorrow for the sin and shame that has come in, the faithful know full well there was a cause for
