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" Darby is
convinced that without the atoning work of Christ, man must bear the guilt
of his sin, and remain at a distance from God without knowledge of Him or
of His love.
Few today who would identify themselves as Fundamentalists have ever heard of
John Nelson Darby or the Plymouth Brethren. Yet as Ernest R. Sandeen
correctly observes in The Roots of Fundamentalism, "much of the
thought and attitudes of those who are known as Fundamentalists can be
mirrored in the teachings of this man."1
Darby flourished at
a time when the winds of higher criticism were sweeping through the
established churches of the British Isles. Christians firmly rooted in
orthodoxy were appalled to see unregenerate clergy not only paid out of
state coffers, but openly attacking the inspiration and authority of the
Word of God. A general disenchantment and despair over the state of the
organized church caused many to withdraw and seek fellowship elsewhere.
A number of
movements sprang up to bid for the moral high ground of biblical
Christianity. One of these was the Bible society movement begun in 1804
with the establishment of the British and Foreign Bible Society in London
by a group of theologically conservative Anglicans. Another was the
ill-fated anti-liberalism Oxford movement which itself became entangled in
an anti-Reformation Romanism. Yet another reaction against the established
church, which was to leave its important but largely anonymous signature
upon the Fundamentalist movement of a later time, was the movement begun by
the "brethren" who were to eventually become known for their
meetings at Plymouth. The chief architect and theologian of this movement
was the Irish clergyman, J. N. Darby.
DARBY'S LIFE
John Nelson Darby,
namesake of family friend and famed British admiral, Lord Nelson, was born
in London of Irish parents on November 18, 1800. Ireland furnished the
backdrop for his earliest years of development and education. In 1819 at
the age of eighteen, Darby graduated from Trinity College Dublin as a
Classical Medalist.
Brilliant, gifted,
and with all the right connections, Darby had been groomed for and was
practically assured a successful career in law. But a deep spiritual
struggle gripped the budding young barrister in his eighteenth year and
caused him to abandon that profession after only one year of practice
between 1822 and 1823. Darby's spiritual odyssey lasted until 1825 when he
received ordination as deacon in the Church of England. The following year,
he was elevated to the priesthood and assigned a curacy in remote County
Wicklow, Ireland.
Taking up residence
in a peasant's cottage on a bog, Darby covered the great untamed expanse of
his ecclesiastical responsibility on horseback in the manner of John
Wesley. His gentleness of spirit and saintly bearing and conduct quickly
earned him a place in the hearts of his poor parishioners. So committed was
Darby to the instruction of the peasantry in the Word of God that he was
seldom found at his own humble dwelling before midnight. His labors did not
go unrewarded. Although he expended most of his modest wages and personal
inheritance on the local schools and charities, by Darby's on account
Catholics were "becoming protestants at the rate of 600 to 800 a
week."2 Darby's standard of reward and gain was always in terms of
souls won for the kingdom, never silver added to the purse.
For some time the
young circuit-riding cleric had been troubled by the condition of the
established church, but his demanding duties had prevented any decisive
action. He was to receive time for undisturbed reflection on the issue,
however, when his horse bolted during one journey through the parish,
throwing its rider with tremendous force against a doorjamb. The ensuing
lengthy convalescence from the required surgery in Dublin, served as an
incubator for Darby's discontent.
Darby says,
"During my solitude, conflicting thoughts increased; but much exercise
of soul had the effect of causing the scriptures to gain complete
ascendancy over me. I had always owned them to be the Word of God . . . the
careful reading of the Acts afforded me a practical picture of the
early church; which made me feel deeply the contrast with its actual
present state; though still, as ever beloved by God."3 After only
twenty-seven months with the Church of England and thoroughly dissatisfied
with what he viewed as rampant Erastianism and clericalism, Darby sought
fellowship and ministry outside the established church.
Eventually, Darby
made the acquaintance of a group of like-minded believers, members of the
Church of England in Dublin, and met with them for prayer and Bible study
during the winter of 1827-28. It was this group which would later become
known as the Plymouth Brethren. The two guiding principles of the movement
were to be the breaking of bread every Lord's Day, and ministry based upon
the call of Christ rather than the ordination of man. While Darby was not
the founder of this group, he quickly emerged as its spiritual leader and
dominant force.
By 1840, the
Plymouth movement had grown to 800 strong and would reach more than 1200
within the next five years. Even though Darby disliked denominational
labels, preferring rather the simple biblical designation
"brethren," it was perhaps inevitable that these
"brethren" who met at Plymouth, should become known as the
"Plymouth Brethren."
Many other Brethren
groups formed in Britain and subsequently in other parts of the world. As a
result of his extensive travels, Darby himself was responsible for the
spread of Brethren doctrine to other countries. He made several trips to
preach and teach in Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Holland.
Between 1859 and 1874, Darby made six trips to the United States and Canada
where he ministered in all the major cities and in some of the smaller ones
as well. Included also in Darby's itinerary were visits to the West Indies
and New Zealand.
Wherever Darby went,
he never tired of expounding his views on the doctrine of the church and
future things. He was convinced both that the organized church was in a
state of ruin and that Christ's return to rapture the saints and establish
the millennial kingdom was imminent. While Darby's call for a radical
response to the apostate condition of the church was met with relative
indifference, his teachings on eschatological themes were heartily embraced
and provided much of the substance for the Bible conference movement of the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. But more than any one
doctrine, it was Darby and the Brethren's fundamental orthodoxy that
appealed to Bible believing Christians everywhere.
DARBY'S CHARACTER
Any portraiture of
Darby the man must be painted in sharp black and white tones, never in
shades of gray. He was a man of incredible intensity. First and foremost,
he was intensely committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was his only
love and all-consuming passion. He cared for little that this world had to
offer. Though meticulous in personal cleanliness, for example, Darby wore
only simple clothing and those to the point of shabbiness. It is said that
on one occasion while he slept, some kindly friends seized the opportunity
to substitute new clothing for old. Upon waking, Darby donned the new
apparel without remark or even apparent notice.
Darby was kind and
humble in nature and his compassion and generosity towards the poor was
without bounds. He observed that "Christ preferred the poor; ever
since I have been converted so have I. Let those who like society better
have it. If I ever get into it . . . I return sick at heart. I go to the
poor; I find the same evil nature as in the rich, but I find this
difference: the rich, and those who keep their comforts and their society,
judge and measure how much of Christ they can take and keep without
committing themselves; the poor, how much of Christ they can have to
comfort them in their sorrows. That, unworthy as I am, is where I am at
home and happy." Darby in no way felt intellectually ill-equipped for
cultivated society, it was just that given the choice, he rejected it all
in preference for the cross.4
Kindly in
disposition and humble in spirit though Darby was, his absolute devotion to
the Word of God and demand for unflinching fidelity to its truth, as he
understood it, made him ready prey for controversy. His limitless patience
with the honest ignorance of the poor and unlearned was legendary. But so
was his wrath against those among the well educated who played fast and
loose with the truth of the gospel of Christ.
A full twenty-five
years after one "heterodox teacher" had felt the brunt of Darby's
indignation, he was to write, "J.N.D. writes with a pen in one hand
and a thunderbolt in the other." But as Darby's biographer, W. G.
Turner points out, "it was only fundamental error which roused his
deepest grief and indignation, his patience with honest blunderers being
proverbial."5
If ever the epithet,
"fighting Fundamentalist" applied to anyone, it applied to J. N.
Darby. At the same time, it is true that Darby derived no pleasure from
controversy and often expressed his love for the object of his more potent
polemics. But in his view, faced with a choice between peace on the one
hand and truth on the other, there could be no alternative but to defend
the truth.
Wherever Darby went,
whether peasant's home or hallowed halls of Oxford, his nobleness of
character, keenness of mind, dedication to Christ, and commanding presence
made him the focus of attention. The great Bible teacher and preacher, G.
Campbell Morgan recounts as one of the "cherished recollections"
of his boyhood his encounter with Darby who had come to visit his father.
"He vividly recalls the almost reverential awe that lay upon him in
the presence of that truly great man, and how the awe gave place and the
reverence remained, when the visitor spoke kindly to him about his
studies."6
DARBY'S DOCTRINE
Darby is called by
many the father of modern dispensational theology, a theology made popular
first by the Scofield Reference Bible7and more recently by the
Ryrie Study Bible. It is a theology that has gained wide influence
through the publications and educational efforts of institutions like
Dallas Theological Seminary and Moody Bible Institute. Yet while Darby is
the center of almost every controversy over the origin of this theological
system, his works are little known and seldom read. This is true among the
critics and champions of dispensational theology alike. This neglect is
unfortunate, for Darby is credited with much of the theological content of
the Fundamentalist movement. There is little doubt too, that Darby had a
tremendous part in the systematization and promotion of dispensational
theology.
Today, however,
Darby's theological distinctives have virtually been reduced to his
doctrine of the church in ruins, the premillennial return of Christ--with
special emphasis upon Israel and the church's role in that kingdom age--and
the rapture of the church. As important as these doctrines are in Darby's
theology, they were but an outgrowth of other doctrines which must be
considered the bedrock of his and the Brethren's teaching. It is the
bedrock upon which orthodox Christianity has stood since Pentecost and upon
which Fundamentalists made their stand shortly after the turn of the
century.
Inspiration
and Infallibility of Scripture
Darby was unswerving
in his belief that the Bible was the inspired, infallible Word of God,
absolutely authoritative8 and faithfully transmitted from the original
autographs.9 If the world itself were to disappear and be annihilated,
asserts Darby, "and the word of God alone remained as an invisible
thread over the abyss, my soul would trust in it. After deep exercise of
soul I was brought by grace to feel I could entirely. I never found it fail
me since. I have often failed; but I never found it failed me."
Once questioned as
to whether he might not allow that some parts of the New Testament may have
had only temporary significance, Darby retorted, "'No! every word,
depend upon it, is from the Spirit and is for eternal service!'" Darby
felt compelled to affirm his fidelity to the Word of God because "In
these days especially . . . the authority of His written word is called in
question on every side . . . "10
Deity
and Virgin Birth of Christ
On the deity of
Christ, Darby is no less compromising than he is on the place of Scripture
in the believer's life. "The great truth of the divinity of Jesus,
that He is God," says Darby, "is written all through scripture
with a sunbeam, but written to faith. I cannot hesitate in seeing the Son,
the Jehovah of the Old Testament, the First and the Last, Alpha and Omega,
and thus it shines all through. But He fills all things, and His manhood,
true, proper manhood, as true, proper Godhead, is as precious to me, and
makes me know God, and so indeed only as the other, He is 'the true God and
eternal life.'"11 If Christ is not God, concludes Darby, then "I
do not know Him, have not met Him, nor know what He is."12 As one of
the truths connected with the person and work of Christ, Darby cites the
"miraculous birth of the Saviour, who was absolutely without sin . .
."13
Substitutionary
Atonement
Just as the doctrine
of the deity of Christ is written all through the Bible, Darby maintains
that the propitiation secured by the sacrificial death of Christ "is a
doctrine interwoven with all Scripture, forms one of the bases of
Christianity, is the sole ground of remission--and there is none without
shedding blood--and that by which Christ has made peace; Col. 1:20."14
Darby is convinced
that without the atoning work of Christ, man must bear the guilt of his
sin, and remain at a distance from God without knowledge of Him or of His
love. But thankfully that is not the case, for as Darby points out,
"There is death in substitution--He 'bore our sins in his own body on
the tree'--'died for our sins according to the scriptures' . . ."15
Resurrection
of Christ
For Darby, "the
Person of Christ regarded as risen," is the pivot around which
"all the truths found in the word revolve."16 "Many have,
perhaps, been able, in looking at the Church's hope in Christ," says
Darby, "to see the importance of the doctrine of the resurrection. But
the more we search the Scriptures, the more we perceive, in this doctrine,
the fundamental truth of the gospel--that truth which gives to redemption
its character, and to all other truths their real power." It is the
victory of Christ over death which gives the certainty of salvation.17 It
is the resurrection, asserts Darby, which "leaves behind, in the tomb,
all that could condemn us, and ushers the Lord into that new world of which
he is the perfection, the Head, and the glory."18 Consequently, this
doctrine characterized apostolic preaching.19
Return
of Christ
Darby believed that
it was essential that the church have a right hope. That hope he understood
to be the second coming of Christ. At his coming, Darby maintained, Christ
would take the saints to glory with Him, to become the bride, the wife of
the Lamb.20
Darby insists that
"Nothing is more prominently brought forward in the New Testament than
the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ." He points out that it was
the promise of Christ's return which was first offered to the sorrowing
disciples as they witnessed the ascension of their Lord as recorded in Acts
1:11. Furthermore, says Darby, "It was not at all a strange
thing--immediately after conversion to the living God--'to wait for his Son
from heaven, even Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come.'"21
In light of the
foregoing, John F. Walvoord, president emeritus of Dallas Theological
Seminary, is certainly correct in saying that "Much of the Truth
promulgated by fundamental Christians to-day had its rebirth in the
movement known as the 'Plymouth Brethren.'"22
Darby's Influence
It should be evident
from the foregoing that there is a distinct connection between the
doctrines of the Brethren and the Fundamentalists who rose to challenge
modernism shortly before and especially after the turn of the century. Well
before publication of The Fundamentals: A Testimony of Truth in
1909, the Brethren were proclaiming the same basic truths of Scripture and
staunchly defending them against all comers. The very character of Brethren
fellowship and beliefs is such that to entertain liberal doctrines would
destroy the movement altogether.
Many of the greatest
Fundamentalist leaders of the past have openly acknowledged their
indebtedness to the teachings and ministry of Darby and the Brethren. After
securing the writings of C. H. Mackintosh, the man most responsible for
popularizing Darby's works, D. L. Moody said, "if they could not be
replaced, [I] would rather part with my entire library, excepting my Bible,
than with these writings. They have been to me a very key to the
Scriptures."23
A. C. Gaebelein,
contributor to The Fundamentals and one of the most potent
influences on the life and doctrine of C. I. Scofield, says of Darby and
other Brethren writers, "I found in his writings, in the works of
William Kelly, Mcintosh [Mackintosh], F. W. Grant, Bellett, and others the
soul food I needed. I esteem these men next to the Apostles in their sound
and spiritual teachings." In the same breath Gaebelein speaks of four
saints named John who will be present at that great celestial meeting when
Christ returns--John Calvin, John Knox, John Wesley, and John Darby.24
William Kelly,
Darby's closest friend and greatest student, never tired of admonishing
others to "Read Darby!" With some fifty-three volumes to his
credit--including everything from a complete translation of the Bible to a
volume of verse--there is much of Darby to read.
John Nelson Darby
continued to serve and proclaim his Savior both with the written and spoken
word until his departure to be with Him on the 29th of April, 1882. And no
matter what subject he addressed, one theme always came to the fore--Jesus
Christ. Just a few days before his home-going Darby wrote in a final letter
to the Brethren, "I can say, Christ has been my only object; thank
God, my righteousness too . . . Hold fast to Christ."25 W
ENDNOTES
1 Ernest R. Sandeen,
The Roots of Fundamentalism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1970; reprinted., Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1978), p. xix.
2 W. Blair Neatby. A
History of the Plymouth Brethren (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1901),
p. 16.
3 Darby as quoted in
W. G. Turner, John Nelson Darby (London: C. A. Hammond, 1944), p.
17. 4 Turner, p. 77.
5 John Nelson Darby,
Letters of J. N. Darby, 3 vols., reprint ed. (Sunbury, Penn.:
Believers Bookshelf, 1971), 1:205. 6 Turner, p. 31.
7 John Harries, G.
Campbell Morgan, The Man and His Ministry, p. 27; quoted in Turner, p.
78.
8 For a full
treatment of the relationship between Darby and Scofield's dispensational
doctrines, see Larry V. Crutchfield's The Origins of Dispensationalism:
The Darby Factor (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1992).
9 John Nelson Darby,
Collected Writings of J. N. Darby, 34 vols., ed. by William Kelly
(Sunbury, Penn.: Believers Bookshelf, n.d.), 23:13.
10 Ibid., 23:31. 11
Ibid., 1:38. 12 Darby, Letters, 1:28-29.
13 Darby, Collected
Writings, 33:82. 14 Darby, Letters, 2:432.
15 Darby, Collected
Writings, 33:82. 16 Darby, Letters, 3:102.
17 Ibid., 1:47. 18
Darby, Collected Writings, 3:147.
19 Darby, Letters,
1:47. 20 Darby, Collected Writings, 3:147.
21 Darby, Letters,
2:361. 22 Darby, Collected Writings, 27:306.
23 John F. Walvoord,
review of An Historical Sketch of the Brethren Movement, by H. A.
Ironside, in Bibliotheca Sacra, 1942, p. 378.
24 Sandeen, p. 173.
25 A. C. Gaebelein, Half
a Century (New York: Our Hope Publication Office, 1930), p. 85.
26 Turner, p. 80.
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