But there is a proverb, that “extremes often meet;” and so we find amongst Dissenters another party—a party of Plymouth brethren. The exclusive section of that body known by that name, who go in, not for apostolic succession , but for “Church succession.” They have “recovered the Church.” The Church is the “only solid divine rock”—“the city of refuge;” and to be outside of their meetings is to be “outside the Church of God on earth.” Such is the language of the heads and chiefs of this party;[1] and when asked what it is which gives this exalted position to them, we are referred to Matt. xviii. 19, 20: “Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven: for where two or three are gathered together in (unto eis) my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
That the Lord, in this paragraph, makes provision for Christians to the end of time, amid all vicissitudes, and under all circumstances, is admitted—in fact, it is a provision that survives “the power of the keys” mentioned in the preceding paragraph. But what is the nature of it? It is a provision supplied by prayer, and the power which prayer gives at the throne of grace, on the part of any who gather together to the name of the Lord Jesus. “It shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” Such is the nature of the passage and the promise attaching to it, as any attentive reader can see; and if any claim a right to it, par excellence, or a monopoly of the promise to themselves, they can prove the claim in one way, and in one way only. If the exclusionists amongst the Plymouth brethren can bring forward any evidence whatsoever to show that their prayers only at the throne of grace prevail, or that they are more efficacious than the prayers of other Christians; then their claim and right to a monopoly in this privilege will be conceded, and readily conceded, and that they only gather to the name of the Lord. For the passage and promise are quite capable of being tested in this way. But if they refuse the test, then the claim runs parallel with the claim of “apostolic succession”—a mere vapid assertion, having not only no foundation in fact, but the opposite of fact. Certainly, if they only gather together to the name of the Lord Jesus, their prayers must prevail beyond all others; and if this can be proved in any way, all other Christians should join them at once.
- ↑ Appendix B.
