Page:Neatby - A history of the Plymouth Brethren.djvu/112

100 “nineteen brothers and sisters of the Baptist Church” came to his lodging and bade him an affectionate farewell.

It was the small beginning of a fairly considerable movement, though the work never attained in Germany nearly the same proportions as in Switzerland. The reader has the full means before him of judging of Müller’s motives and conduct. It may suffice to draw attention to the fact that Müller sought to widen a church’s fellowship, and not (as is commonly the case with modern emissaries of Brethrenism) to narrow it. That he strove to establish the peculiar principles of Brethrenism, and that he attached a profound importance to them, is perfectly plain. The experience of days that shortly followed tended probably to moderate his opinions. At any rate, Müller’s name is not associated in most minds with so extreme a view as to ministry. The spectacle of Darbyism ere long in the ascendant undoubtedly gave pause and check to many.