Page:Neatby - A history of the Plymouth Brethren.djvu/340

 Plymouth, are pleading (often very earnestly) the claims of catholicity. They need the support They confront an influential party that advocates a line of action by which, in many a town and village, the Church of Christ is seriously weakened. Some young fellows entirely careless about religion of any kind are converted among the Methodists of a Yorkshire village, and begin zealously working in the Sunday School or Young Men’s Guild. They come under the influence of a Plymouth Brother elsewhere. At his instigation, they renounce all connexion with the worship and work of the Methodists, although there is no meeting of the Brethren in their village. Until they can form one, they must walk over to the nearest town in which one is found. If they are unable to do this, they must stay at home. IfIt [sic] is the greatest mistake to suppose that the Brother who enjoins such a course is necessarily an Exclusive; he may quite well be “Open”. We are bound to give such men the fullest credit for conscientiously holding that all worship except that of the Brethren is positively unlawful; but it is clear that their unenlightened zeal is often a very serious barrier to the union of Christian hearts, and a great impediment to the furtherance of the gospel!

The peculiarities of Open Brethrenism in respect of oversight and local membership have been discussed elsewhere. Its ministry is at least as uncontrolled as that of the Exclusives, and as it is less regulated by any tacit understanding with regard to what is suitable the want of control is liable to be more keenly felt. The exercises of the Sunday morning meeting amongst the old Exclusives were largely moulded upon a sort of unwritten liturgy, which prescribed the acts and the