plea for a more comprehensive spirit towards the older denominations is unique in the story of the Brethren.
After his breach with Darby, Hall had to a certain extent formed new friendships. In 1873 we find him “in fellowship” with a meeting of the Open Brethren that included Mr. and Mrs. Harris and the Bland family. In all the subdivisions of Brethrenism, he could not have found better company. But, unhappily, among the Brethren there was always the other side to be reckoned with. I am informed that a certain Exclusive declined all intercourse with his own mother, because she took the communion with Hall.
His old ally was at rest before him. In 1878 Dorman sank gradually, and died at the end of the year. He was buried at Reading, the scene of his labours during a great part of his ministry. An Exclusive sister, Mrs. Butcher, had the courage to rally a few old friends to the grave-side. The incident is a real relief to the gloom of the unpitied loneliness of his closing years.
The Darbyites flattered themselves that they had got rid of the unsympathetic element, and could count on a period of peace and spiritual expansion. Never were hopes more dismally belied. In 1885 the London Darbyite meetings excommunicated Mr. Clarence Stuart of Reading, a Brother whose reputation for learning and piety stood high among them. His offence was that he taught that the “standing” of a Christian is complete through his faith in the Atonement, independently of his personal union with Christ as risen from the dead; that this union is a “condition” of added privilege, and that it had been an error of the Brethren not to distinguish duly between “standing” and “condition”. He was at-
