Page:Neatby - A history of the Plymouth Brethren.djvu/184

 well, a very important weapon in the armoury of Darbyism; yet Darby, if he had chosen, could have put an end to them at any time, for good and all. The fact was that Wigram and his like—men that never flinched from doing their chief’s work, however tedious and disgusting it might be—were indispensable to Darby, as such men are to every party leader; and he simply could not afford to disown them. Probably too he thought that they were warring in their blundering way against a real evil, and had better not be discouraged. However that may be, Wigram’s caricatures took a firm hold of the popular imagination; and while Darby was writing to Craik, when Craik lay dying in 1866, “calling him his ‘dear brother,’ and wishing that ‘although ecclesiastically separated from him,’ he might be blessed with every blessing, as the Lord might see he needed in his present circumstances,” Darby’s followers were simply noting the passing of a heresiarch. It is very likely, and much to be hoped, that Darby’s kind note was dictated by some feeling of compunction.

By the month of November the elders of Bethesda found the pressure too strong, and resolved to examine the tracts. Their opponents absurdly took this as proof positive that they had previously been to blame for not examining them. A feeble defence was put forth by their friends, where no defence was needed. It was said that Newton having now issued his Letter on the Lord’s Humanity, it was possible to know definitely what he held. But this does not explain the change of front, for Newton’s Letter had been in circulation for several months when the decision to investigate was adopted. Bethesda has often suffered from a timid and misguided advocacy. The change of conduct does not necessarily