Darby’s Strange Corrective to Newtonianism—The Secession of 1866
In the year 1864 another of the makers of Brethrenism passed away. J. G. Bellett died at his house in Upper Pembroke Street, Dublin, on the 10th of October, in his seventieth year. He had followed Darby’s standard, slowly, reluctantly, haltingly. It is plain that Darbyism inspired him with no enthusiasm, and but for Darby’s immense influence over him his later course might well have been very different. He came to feel that Brethrenism might command the allegiance of its members on the ground of its peculiar share in the deposit of truth; but Brethrenism was far from filling out the orb of his ideal. He had written to Harris on the subject, apparently very soon after the great disruption, in the following terms:—
“What was erected in the midst of us twenty years ago may be a dishonoured ruin—the light then communicated may have become darkness, and the deposit then entrusted be forfeited never to be restored. Still the duty of stewardship is as simple and as abiding as ever. …
“It is a poor thing indeed to occupy a pure position[1] with less moral power than those who are on lower ground. I feel this, I believe, beyond every element which now appears in the scene. …
- ↑ I.e., apparently, a position in condemnation of Bethesda, particularly in respect of the Letter of the Ten.
