Page:Neatby - A history of the Plymouth Brethren.djvu/68

56 In Craik’s case the influence of Groves was direct and decisive. From 1826 to 1828, he was tutor in Groves’ family; so that, as he observed long after to the younger Groves, “it was not at St. Andrews, it was not at Plymouth, it was at Exeter that the Lord taught me those lessons of dependence on Himself and of Catholic fellowship, which I have sought to carry out”.

In 1832 Müller and Craik removed to Bristol, and there for some eight years exercised their joint ministry at two chapels, severally known as Bethesda and Gideon. At Gideon the privileges of full membership were open to all Christians, no distinction being made on grounds connected with baptism; but at Bethesda full membership was restricted to Baptists, though the Communion was open. This continued till the summer of 1837, when it was decided to adopt the principle of open membership. Fourteen persons of strong Baptist views seceded, the majority of whom, however, ultimately returned. The alteration was made in consequence of a growing conviction that “there is no scriptural distinction between being in fellowship with individuals and breaking bread with them”. On the other hand, the alternative of close communion was rejected by Müller under the influence of Mr. Robert C. Chapman, of Barnstaple, the present patriarch of the Open Brethren, who has now reached the age of very nearly a hundred, amidst universal respect and goodwill. Up to that time Muller’s mind had been “for years” “more or less exercised” on the subject of open communion. Thenceforth he never wavered in his conviction “that we ought to receive all whom Christ has received, irrespective of the measure of grace or knowledge which they may have attained unto”.

In 1840 Gideon Chapel was abandoned. The reasons that Müller assigns for this step show that the principles