Page:Neatby - A history of the Plymouth Brethren.djvu/346



It was Mrs. Bevan that wrote,

This is the perfect expression of Brethrenism on its strongest side. The soul has to do with Christ through no human or superhuman mediation. In direct communion with Him the commission must be received, the work executed, the account rendered. Of course, along with this went the rejection of all “the mediate expression of Christ’s authority,” of even the simplest form of constituted government,—with the inevitable result of slipping under the irresponsible yoke of any who combined the power and the will to impose it. “If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth … saith the Lord.”

The weak side of Brethrenism is exemplified in the foreign mission work of the Open party. To the devotedness of this service I have already sought to do justice. It is now due to truth to say that the work has been hampered by the fear of “human order”. By the force of the nature of things, a sort of committee has grown up. Three men—all of them justly held in high esteem—“commend” missionaries, receive funds for them, and maintain a correspondence with them. But the missionaries are not answerable to the committee, nor is the committee responsible for the missionaries. Yet it is perfectly inevitable that the existence of the