Page:Neatby - A history of the Plymouth Brethren.djvu/50

38 in His extraordinary operations, than in the working of those social elements which have no original connexion with the depravity of fallen man—in cooperation and subordination, in the economy of an ordered division of labour, in a variety of prudential arrangements, whether in the inward working of the Church or in its external operations. But it is not open to any one (be it observed in passing) to deny that the simplicity of Groves’ faith, the depth of his humility, the energy and purity of his zeal, the fervour and comprehensiveness of his charity, have rarely been equalled in the Church of God.

For better or for worse, it gradually became the law of Brethrenism to disown all regularly constituted authority, all orderly arrangement, and all prudential provision even for emergencies that are bound to arise. How far a now somewhat prolonged experience yields a verdict favourable to such a procedure will perhaps appear in the course of this history.

Very closely linked with what might be called the “haphazardism” of the Brethren is their attitude towards the question of unfulfilled prophecy. Brethrenism may even be held to derive its very existence in part from the new prophetic studies to which the unsettlement of men’s minds, consequent on the long agony of the Napoleonic wars, gave rise. Prophetic meetings were established in 1827 at Aldbury Park, Surrey, the seat of the well-known Henry Drummond. At these meetings Edward Irving took part, and to Aldbury Irvingism traces its rise. Lady Powerscourt attended these conferences, and “was so delighted with them that she established a similar series of meetings at Powerscourt House near Bray, in the County Wicklow, which for several years were presided over by the rector of the parish, the late Bishop Daly of Cashel. These meetings